Court Asks Parties To Maintain Status Quo In Contract Dispute

A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, has ordered parties to maintain the status quo pending the determination of a suit seeking to stop the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, from terminating a contract regarding Nigeria’s movement from analogue to digital television.

Justice A.M. Ademu, a vacation judge, ruled yesterday that parties should maintain the status quo pending the hearing of the Motion on Notice already filed by the Applicants.

The court also ordered the applicants to serve the Defendants with the Motion on Notice filed so that they could respond.

The applicants in the suit are incorporated trustees of the Association of Licensed Set Top Boxes Manufacturers of Nigeria, Gospell Digital Technology Ltd, Digitune Media Technologies, I-Box Engineering, Trefonics Electronics, and Tve-RLG Limited.

In the ex-parte motion marked FCT/HC/CMR/CV/442/2024, the aggrieved companies prayed for a court order to restrain NBC from interfering with or terminating the contract relating to the transition from analogue to digital torrential television in Nigeria pending the hearing of a motion on notice before the court.

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In the motion argued by Dr Reuben Atabo, the claimants sought an order from the court to prohibit NBC from their contractual rights regarding the switch from analogue to digital in the country.

They also applied for an order stopping NBC from advertising to bid for a licence to transition from analogue to digital torrential television.

Besides, the claimants want the court to stop granting licences to any company or individual to manufacture set-top boxes to transition from analogue to digital until their case is thoroughly disposed of.
Besides NBC, Inview Technologies Limited is the 2nd defendant in the suit.
Grounds upon which their application is predicated are that NBC initiated a policy of switching off from analogue to digital torrential television in Nigeria in 2012 and that they were granted licences to participate in the programme upon payment of N50 million to NBC.

They asserted that they were to be given two years of exclusive rights to recoup their investment from the date of the switch off by NBC.

Claimants said that they were authorised to manufacture one million set-top boxes specifically designed to switch off analogue to digital torrential television in Nigeria,

They, however, claimed that on August 22, 2024, the Director General of NBC issued a press statement with the Executive Vice Chairman of the National Communication Commission that the federal government has approved the sum of ten billion for the take-off of the switch from digital to analogue.

They alleged that the NBC Director General announced the jettisoning of the set-top boxes they manufactured in favour of Hybrid Android DTH Set Top Boxes with data connectivity functionalities, terminating their subsisting contract.