The Nigerian television authority, proudly the first television station in Africa, started operation formally in 1977 as a body owned by the Nigerian government.

The station, whose major responsibility is broadcasting in the country, is believed to be the largest TV network in the whole of Africa with its stations widely spread across states in Nigeria.

NTA as it is popularly called, was formerly known as Nigerian Television in 1976, then during the regional take over by the military regime, it monopolized airspace and for many years remained the sole voice of the government of Nigeria until around 1990 when private television stations began to show up.

Although NTA remains an authentic source of information in the country, the potential and capacity of the broadcasting station is yet to reach its maximum.

How it all started
Ibadan was where it all started in 1959 with the name Western Nigerian Government Broadcasting Corporation (WNTV), a first TV station in Africa and as it began to grow, it merged with a couple of stations in parts of Nigeria like RKTV (Radio-Television Kaduna), NBC (Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation), which was a federal government owned TV station, which was also established in 1962, the same year RKTV was established in Kaduna.

It also merged with the Mid West TV which was being run by the government of Benin, but it was based in Port Harcourt. There was a merger also with Benue-Plateau Television Corporation (BPTV) which was based in Jos, established in 1974 and was the first TV station in Nigeria to launch a colored Television broadcasting in the whole of Africa.

BPTV was able to make colored transmission came alive on the first of October 1975, although a rebrand occurred and its name changed to NTV. Also ENTV (Enugu Nigerian Television ) which later became NTA Enugu had a merger story as directed by the federal government then, to bring all ten TV stations under their control.

Starting from May 1977, all broadcasting stations in each state mentioned also changed name to NTV and several years later the name Nigerian Television Authority came to be and continued to exist till date.

NTA today
As of today NTA delivers quality programmes to viewers on domestic issues ,foreign issues, economic issues, matters of national security, political issues which is its strongest point as it is a tool with which the Nigerian government reaches out to its people.

It also offers technological enlightenments,religious shows, entertainment and lifestyle. Some of its nationwide programmes include AM Express, News line, NTA Network news, InsideOut, also its cultural programme include Nigeria Today and NTA Sports. NTA is available on a number of satellite networks for international views and for easy access to Nigerians in Diaspora. A few of them include BEN Television in the united kingdom, IPTV platform which shows on Suncas TV and free to air satellite on galaxy 19, Intelsat 905 and Intel sat 507.

NTA has its official website as www.nta.com.ng and can also be viewed online via Africast and TelAfric Television in the United States of America and in Canada. The station ensures it caters from all age group as children can enjoy educative programs and the aged can also enjoy health shows, comedy shows, soap-operas , cultural shows and others.