Cameroon: TV – From Toddling To Flying Colours

From a timid debut in 1985, television has transformed the media landscape but territorial coverage remains insufficient. Twenty five years are not 25 days, and this best sums the history of television in Cameroon. The debut, historically, was tardy cognizant of the great strides made in TV journalism in other African countries.

Down memory lane, the story of the small screen images (television) in Cameroon smacks of three episodes: the throttling beginning of the pioneer state-owned Cameroonian Television (CTV) as a “unit” in March 1985, sooner as an office, and later today’s CRTV.

It enjoyed absolute monopoly up to the year 2000 when a liberalisation decree by the President of the Republic opened up to private ownership. This was followed by the consequential TV boom with its attendant impact on the population.

To speak of TV’s beginning in Cameroon arouses a deep rooted nostalgia. Between 1985 and 2000, the state TV (CRTV) made a solo-journey in the TV landscape of Cameroon. Keen viewers would attest to the fact that for weeks running, except by “force majeure,” they stayed glued to their TV screens during all the hours of the programmes.

Eric Chinje, Akwanka Joe Ndifor, Charles Ndongo, Denise Epote, Julius Wamey, Willy Niba and Njovens Ben Berka were some of the household names on every lip and the faces in every eye. Millions of Cameroonians had not imagined what TV was all about.

The first neighbourhoods with a TV screen were always overcrowded. Many teenagers deserted their homes and abandoned their domestic chores to watch TV through the window panes of a neighbour. And the programmes were varied and entertaining such as “Minute by minute” , “Province à la une”, “Dynasty” or “Isaura”

During the monopoly, institutional news took pride of place on the screens. Politico-social authorities were bent on having their activities screened. There is this anecdote that even when the TV camera arrived late during official ceremonies or seminars, the event was replayed for the purpose of images.

The attention TV drew from the public remained concentrated in Cameroon’s major cities like Yaounde, Douala, Bafoussam, Buea, Garoua and Ngaoundere. The hinterland dwellers could only catch a glimpse of TV when they made a journey to cities. Screening of programmes was selective on special week days.

When the post monopoly period of TV in Cameroon checked in the year 2000 with a presidential decree that opened the floodgates to private ownership, a new image of TV emerged with Canal 2 and STV displaying their cameras to view the general landscape of Cameroon . Even without commentaries, it still attracted the viewers’ manifest attention.

Then, a new shift from elitism to popularism surfaced. More so, many Cameroonians identified themselves as well as their communities with the TV screen. The monopoly of inviting only CRTV to cover public events halted.

Many other TV varieties cropped up like Equinoxe, DBS, LTM and the like. Cable distributors also boosted the TV landscape with over 70 channels such as CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, TFI, CFI, France 24, NTA, etc.

But one major hurdle remains to surmount: territorial coverage. Although TV has impacted much in the light of fashion, culture, politics, business, sports and the psyche, territorial coverage remains insufficient.

The issue of lack of TV signals in the peripheries has raised dust in developmental circles. Politicians have once and again used the fact for political bargains. The youths have decried it as a pretext for rural exodus. And the general public feels that the powers that be have simply derided such areas or denied them an important tool of unity.

If areas in Idenau, Akwaya, Bakassi, Lebialem, Ndian and Kupe Muanenguba have been longing for TV signals, it becomes imperative that the greater the TV coverage is territorially satisfied, the better symbiosis the people enjoy.

The lack of national TV signals even in such sensitive areas of Cameroon as Bakassi or Idenau has not augured well for the inhabitants who rely on foreign stations for information.

In a nutshell, TV has the arousing power that serves as the mirror of Cameroon in its own right. The technical predication of the media is fulfilled with the radio announcing, the TV showing and the newspapers analysing. Only the three media arms can make society merit the term modern. And Cameroon is not an exception.