Africa Independent Television, also known by its acronym AIT, is a privately owned television broadcaster in

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. It operates

Free To Air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscript ...

in Nigeria as the largest privately operated terrestrial

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

network with stations in twenty-four out of thirty-six

states State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

in Nigeria. AIT is also broadcast via

satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location.ITU Radio Regulations, Section IV. Radio Stations and Systems ...

from its operational headquarters in

Abuja Abuja (; , ) is the capital city of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, strategically situated at the geographic midpoint of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (Nigeria), Federal Capital Territory (FCT). As the seat of the Federal G ...

. AIT is a subsidiary of DAAR Communications plc, available throughout Africa, and via

Dish Network DISH Network L.L.C., often referred to as DISH, an abbreviation for Digital Sky Highway, is an American provider of satellite television and IPTV services and wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation. The company was originally establ ...

to North America. The network emerged due to the deregulation of the Nigerian media landscape, which up until then, was dominated by federal and state government outlets. Satellite broadcasts started on 3 November 1997. In the early 2000s, it was one of the many affiliates that relayed TVAfrica's output in Nigeria. In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, it was available on

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the planetary surface, surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from ...

channel 454 as a free-to-air channel (originally a subscription channel until 1 August 2016). An additional channel called AIT Movistar, formerly on Sky channel 330, ceased broadcasting on 28 July 2009. AIT International ceased broadcasting in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 15 October 2019.

Shutdown

The Founder, Raymond Dokpesi, led a peaceful protest to the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

on 6 June 2019 to submit a petition requesting a review of the broadcast laws. Raymond Dokpesi had at a press conference earlier called the attention of the media to editorial interference, threats of sanctions and political bias by the Director-General, Modibbo Kawu of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), who had recently contested a primary election as an aspirant of the ruling

All Progressives Congress The All Progressives Congress (APC) is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Nigeria, along with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Founded on 6 February 2013 from a merger of Nigeria's three largest opposition parties, t ...

for governorship in

Kwara State Kwara () is a state in Western Nigeria, bordered to the east by Kogi State, to the north by Niger State, and to the south by Ekiti, Osun, and Oyo states, while its western border makes up part of the international border with Benin. Its ca ...

. Dokpesi also alleged that the NBC was working on the orders of the Nigerian presidency to clamp down on the TV network over trumped up charges of violation of the broadcast code. The broadcasting license of the television station was suspended indefinitely by the National Broadcasting Commission on 6 June 2019 on the grounds of its alleged failure to pay license fees and use of inciting contents from

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

. A Federal High Court in

however ordered the reopening of the television station on 7 June 2019.Court orders reopening of AIT, Raypower https://www.thecable.ng/just-in-court-orders-reopening-of-ait-raypower

Personalities

* Ohimai Amaize

References

External links

AIT News
Television channels and stations established in 1996 1996 establishments in Nigeria Television stations in Lagos Companies based in Lagos Television production companies of Nigeria {{Nigeria-tv-station-stub

Shutdown

Personalities

See also

References

External links