There’s an old Ghanaian saying; “A farmer thinks highly of himself and overestimates his works, only to discover his failings when he visit some other farm”.

The truth hidden in this message has immense application for several aspects of life. After all, ignorance of the law is no excuse right? You may never see the extent to which something is lacking or the level of difference in any sector till you experience something better only to discover the level of damage, and this applies to relationships, business, family life and any other thing one could ever think of.

The main angle at which I’m looking at this is in relation to television entertainment. Previously, there was only a single television station in the whole country. This was GTV, a nation owned station which was tightly controlled by the government and was the source of many of our influences as kids and even the only source for our parents and older generation. GTV, managed to deliver a variety of programs to a wide array of audiences. I mean it was effective to an extent, I gotta admit, I didn’t love all the programs. Actually I sincerely loved quite a few, but since it was the only choice available I watched most of it anyway. Some programs I loved were, Inspector Bediako, Captain Planet and other titles produced from the Tim is Nafti series. Most people enjoyed Akan Drama (aka Obra). There were shows I rarely watched, if at all, some were “Missing Link”, “African Heritage” amongst others.

            Later, after 1999 some private channels started making way over the Airways, TV3 and MetroTV started during this period.

TV3, a Malaysia owned network (see the irony?) became very popular quickly and MetroTV, a Ghanaian owned station begun to offer variety and choice. This spurred minor competition amongst the station and television entertainment got better.

            As of this writing, there are about six tv stations in the Accra – Tema area. These are: GTV,TV3, MetroTV, NET2, TV Africa and ________________

NET2 started transmission in 2008 and is notorious for their amazing display of movies, mostly current and theater-level titles. This made them quite popular.

 

All the Ghanaian station did their best to please their audiences, but after accessing foreign content have I realized the dismal quality of Ghanaian television in comparison to other countries on the continent. Etv, a south African TV station is commendable in this regard. I never noticed how bad the graphics were until I started watching other channels. The difference in the graphics is beyond words. The comparison between the studios is superfluous. Makes you wonder why there is soo much difference. It then gets obvious that the whole thing seems poorly managed. The Light Exposure, Color combination and use of designs is very awkward. My exposure to American content increases this theory.

               The visuals, aside, the quality of the Ghanaian programs is an issue to be skewed. Personally, I didn’t watch much TV when I was in Accra. They wasn’t much to excite a young brother like myself who wanted something challenging. There were laudable attempts like ForesightTV and “Things we do for love” and Home Sweet Home. These programs were enjoyable to the average person, but didn’t offer informative materials depending on a particular demography.

The point am trying to make is that, local television stations invest more in original content(programs) which would be both pertinent and standard for various ages and intensify their spending on standardization, because, presently the Ghanaian TV industry and the international networks are light years apart.