MultiChoice says the Nigerian government needs to do more to combat piracy of video content and more and better laws to protect intellectual property in order for Africa's TV and film industry to grow.
"One key thing which a lot of people overlook is piracy. The government - we need laws that protect intellectual property. That's the basic foundation. That's the best thing we need to do.We need to respect people's creativity," said John Ugbe, MultiChoice Nigeria managing director.
"Once we begin to do that, then people will pay for those products, because they're not freely available. You'll then see more investment come in,so we need the right laws bit not just laws - we need enforcement of the laws."
John Ugbe was asked what the Nigerian government needs to do to boost the film industry.
CNBC Africa (DStv 410 / Cell C black 512) interviewed John Ugbe on Saturday evening on the red carpet at the 6th 2018 Africa Magic Viewers' Choice Awards, where for the first time CNBC Africa had a dedicated spot and did interviews.
CNBC Africa asked John Ugbe what specific Nigerian laws MultiChoice wants the Nigerian government to review that would help the Nigerian film industry.
"It's more enforcement, as I touched on intellectual property. We need a lot more enforcement of anti-piracy activities. We need to stop people from selling that odd DVD on the street - that's stealing."
"No matter where the content comes from, pirated content ends up destroying the industry locally," said John Ugbe.
John Ugbe said there's big opportunities in Africa for filmmakers. "Africa, we have the best stories. We can tell the stories ourselves."
