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Exclusivity of Sports Content: A partial review of the amended NBC Code By Happiness Okonji; Stella U. Rachael; Allen Lawal S.

  The sixth amendment to the National Broadcasting Code has been a subject of controversy amongst different industry players and stakeholders. Like market women chasing away a thief in broad daylight, individuals and groups perceived to be affected by different sections of the code have denounced its provisions – mostly without a broad-picture and objective review of the code.While these individuals with vested interest would rather have the public believe otherwise, one only needs to make a careful perusal of the code to ascertain the intentions of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission in ensuring the following amongst others in the broadcast industry: innovation, healthy intra-industry competition and a sustainable increase in the revenue base of the broadcast sector.Amendments in the code which have provoked an outcry, in particular, are the provisions on the exclusivity of broadcast content, sublicensing, and advertising spend. However, these provisions can be viewed with an intent to regulate the broadcast sector and leapfrog to global standards when compared to practices obtained outside the country.On the subject of exclusive broadcast contents, exclusive sports rights come to mind easily. Nigeria has become a notorious safe haven for Broadcast service providers to hold an exclusive right to high-demand sports content to the detriment of other broadcast service providers.A cursory look at practices obtainable abroad reveals that Nigeria falls short in this regard. There is a notable shift in the treatment of exclusive content agreements in pay-tv markets in Europe by competition authorities towards a view that access to content is imperative for entrants to be able to compete with incumbents. This further highlights the market distorting characteristics of monopoly and anti-competitive tendencies displayed by some players in the industry. On 31 March 2010, the Ofcom imposed a "wholesale must-offer" obligation under which Sky was and still is obliged to make its two main sports channels (Sky Sports 1 and 2) available to other pay-TV retailers at regulated prices. The pay broadcaster will be required to wholesale the Sky Sports 1 and 2 channels to other platforms at prices set by Ofcom. As a result, the United Kingdom enabled other broadcasters such as BT Sports the ability to provide its subscribers with broadcast content at a regulated price.This practice can also be found in Singapore, where the regulatory body, Media Development Authority (MDA) introduced new measures in March 2010 that would require pay-TV companies to cross-carry content subject to exclusive carriage provisions. The cross-carriage measure enables a purchaser of sports exclusive content to provide access to its content on a paid retailer-customer basis to consumers on any pay-TV platform via a network transit arrangement. The exclusive content owner will continue to be compensated directly for the consumption of their content, with the content being monetized by customers of another operator incurring a network transit charge.All of the remedies implemented in the cases quoted in the previous section, especially the creation of wholesale markets for premium contents, outline the possibility of having downstream competition with content sharing. The existence of exclusivity clauses in a potential area of competition can distort the innovation race in technology domains, inhibiting the development of alternative platforms and thus preventing the possibility of reaching the optimal allocation of resources in the longer term. Therefore, the elimination of exclusivity in the Nigerian context, is the most effective way to enhance both the competitiveness of the downstream market and broadcaster’s incentives to innovate, with positive effects on consumer welfare. . Exclusivity of Sports Content: A partial review of the amended NBC Code By Happiness Okonji; Stella U. Rachael; Allen Lawal S. Follow Linda Ikeji Blog.

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Pregnant Married Woman Arrested For Faking Kidnap, Sharing Ransom With Boyfriend

Operatives of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command have arrested an expectant mother who faked her own kidnap and demanded for N2 million as ransom from her husband.

It was gathered that the woman shared the ransom money with the man suspected to be her boyfriend, and whom she connived with to defraud the husband.

FCT Commissioner of Police Benneth Igweh, who paraded the suspects yesterday, said: “About 19:40hrs on March 11, one Chiedozie Ubah of Saburi II Dei-dei, Abuja, reported at Gwa Gwa Police Division that his pregnant wife, Rosemary Ubah, left for the hospital on same date but did not return home. He later received a call from his wife’s number telling him that she had been kidnapped and demanded for two N2 million ransom before her release.

“He transferred the money into his wife’s account as instructed and later brought his wife to the station after her release. During interrogation, the wife freely confessed to have conspired with one man named Walter Ezeala living on the same street with them at Saburi to extort money from her husband.

“The said Walter was arrested and he confessed that he got N800,000 from the ransom money.

“N793,500) cash, two ATM cards and two android phones were recovered from them.”

In a similar development, Igweh narrated how operatives of the command arrested a man who faked also his own kidnap to test the loyalty of his girlfriend.

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Dollar To Naira Exchange Rate For Today 22 March 2024

Find below, the Dollar to Naira exchange rate for today, 22 March 2024.

Lifestyle Nigeria has obtained the official dollar to the naira exchange rate in Nigeria today, including the Bureau De Change (BDC) rate and CBN rates.

What Is The Official Exchange Rate For Dollar To Naira Today?

The exchange rate between the Naira and the US dollar according to the data released on the FMDQ Security Exchange, the official forex trading portal showed that the Naira opened at ₦1536.83 per $1 on Wednesday, March 20, 2024, and closed at ₦1453.28 per $1 on Thursday, March 21, 2024.

However, the Naira is trading as high as ₦1,400 per Dollar at the black market even though the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced the unification of all segments of the foreign exchange market.

The apex bank, had in a circular on Wednesday 14th June 2023, said all FX windows were now collapsed into the investors & exporters (I&E) window.

The statement read, “Abolishment of segmentation. All segments are now collapsed into the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window. Applications for medicals, school fees, BTA/PTA, and SMEs would continue to be processed through deposit money banks.

“Re-introduction of the “Willing Buyer, Willing Seller” model at the I&E Window. Operations in this window shall be guided by the extant circular on the establishment of the window, dated 21 April 2017, and referenced FM/DIR/CIR/GEN/08/007. All eligible transactions are permitted to access foreign exchange at this window.

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Abure Ajaero – .

The National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP) Comrade Julius Abure, has warned the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Joe Ajaero, against utilizing the NLC’s platform, finances, and assets for his aspirations to vie for the presidency in 2027 or the governorship of Imo State.

Abure issued this warning in Asaba, Delta State on Wednesday in response to the closure of the Labour Party’s National Headquarters by protesting NLC members. The protesters were calling for his swift removal as the National Chairman of the party.

He said: “I must state today that the leadership of NLC under Joe Ajaero is on the part of destroying the successes we have recorded in the 2023 general election.

“I had expected that as a responsible trade union centre, a responsible labour leader; number one should have teamed up with Labour Party to see how we can team up together to make the country better.

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Abure continued, “Unfortunately and ironically too, the NLC is the one that is on the part of war against Labour Party. I must state clearly that Ajaero as NLC President has not been able to organise a successful strike action. Not even a single protest or even picketing government establishment in order to bring government to accede to the numerous requests of workers.

“As we speak, there are unfair labour practices meted out to workers by several organisations in the country. I have not seen Joe Ajaero go to such organisations to picket them.”

While stressing that Joe Ajaero is not officially affiliated with the Labour Party, Abure clarified that the party is not under the ownership of the NLC as asserted by the labor union.

He said: “Over the past few years, NLC has been claiming ownership of Labour Party. l must state clearly that NLC is not the owner of Labour Party. The party is not owned by NLC.

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