The CEO of the Ivorian Broadcasting Corporation (IDT), Adama Benoît Yéo, spoke on Tuesday, May 31, 2022, at the "Tout savoir sur" (Everything you need to know about) forum organized by the Government Information and Communication Center (CICG) on digital terrestrial television (DTT).
He addressed several topics, including the progress of DTT deployment and the switch-off of the analog signal.
Today, 23 sites are in service and coverage is at 90% of the Ivorian population. Furthermore, according to Mr. Yeo, who cites a study conducted by the LF Consulting Institute in 2021, 73% of households are aware of DTT, 68% of households are equipped to receive the DTT signal, and more than 80% of retailers offer DTT kits. However, these figures are to be confirmed by the National Institute of Statistics during the second quarter of 2022.
In fact, many Ivorian observers believe that these results, and in particular the equipment rate, are greatly overestimated.
According to the Médiamétrie study covering the period from October 2 to December 19, 2021, in the city of Abidjan, 59.7% of Abidjan residents were familiar with DTT and 49.7% intended to purchase an adapter to receive digital television, representing a potential DTT penetration rate of 29.7% of Abidjan's population.
In addition, Mr. YEO announced that Startimes had decided in 2021 to give up the pay-TV multiplex it had been allocated, thus freeing up space for 7 to 8 new HD channels or 15 SD channels.
This situation is reshuffling the deck in Côte d'Ivoire, as a new call for tenders would result in an increase in the number of free channels financed by advertising, while all indicators show that the advertising market is sluggish or even in decline at the beginning of 2021 and that the viability of private DTT channels is still far from proven.
Of course, a call for tenders for a second pay-TV multiplex could also be relaunched, as there are six pay-TV operators with HACA authorization: Telenum (CANAL+), STARTIMES, AKWABA TELE, TV-COM CÔTE D'IVOIRE, TNT SAT, and SAT IVOIRE.