CONCEPT NOTE
17th General Assembly of the African Union of Broadcasting and AUB’s 20th Anniversary
Theme: “AUB, 20 years serving African media: heritage, innovation and transformation”
Dates: 14–17 April 2026 — Venue: Banjul, The Gambia
1. General context
The 17th General Assembly of the African Union of Broadcasting, which coincides with the celebration of its 20th anniversary, comes at a crucial moment for Africa’s media ecosystem. For two decades, AUB has played a central role in audiovisual cooperation, resource sharing and the defence of the strategic interests of public and private broadcasters. Each year, the Union develops a diversified training programme to strengthen the capacities of African media professionals.
Since 2024, AUB has also launched its foundation to fight cancer through the media, a structured initiative aimed at helping reduce cancer-related mortality on the continent.
At the same time, the global media landscape is undergoing profound change driven by digital transformation, artificial intelligence, platform economics and the commercialisation and distribution of sports rights. In this context, AUB plays an important role in the collective management of broadcasting rights for major competitions including the FIFA World Cup, Africa Cup of Nations, Futsal, Beach Soccer, CHAN, CAF Champions League, Paralympic Games, African Ballon d’Or, FIBA Africa competitions and other international events.
Through its pooling policy, AUB promotes fair access to sports content for African audiences, reduces broadcasting costs and strengthens the continent’s audiovisual sovereignty.
2. Three-part vision: Heritage – Innovation – Transformation
A. Heritage: identity and narrative sovereignty
Africa’s audiovisual heritage is a foundation of the continent’s cultural sovereignty. It includes reclaiming African narratives, digitising and preserving threatened audiovisual archives, promoting African languages and protecting sports rights so major competitions remain accessible to the widest possible audience.
B. Innovation: emerging technologies and new cooperation models
Innovation is a major strategic driver for African media. AUB is supporting several flagship initiatives, including the African Content Exchange Centre in Algiers, designed to facilitate programme sharing, co-production, sales and circulation among African broadcasters; the planned African Observatory for Artificial Intelligence, intended to anticipate risks linked to deepfakes and information manipulation while supporting responsible AI adoption; and the African Training Centre for audiovisual and digital professions in Dakar, dedicated to journalists, technicians and specialists in AI, cybersecurity, digital production and data journalism.
C. Transformation: towards a sovereign and sustainable media model
The transformation of Africa’s media landscape requires modernised governance, resilient hybrid business models, digitised editorial processes, stronger professional skills and systematic integration of technological innovation into national audiovisual communication policies.
3. Strategic framework
This concept note is aligned with continental and international priorities, including the African Union’s Agenda 2063, the Sustainable Development Goals, digital sovereignty and AUB’s ambition to consolidate its role as a continental centre of expertise in sports rights, innovation and training.
4. Challenges and opportunities
Key challenges include the persistent digital divide, stronger competition from global platforms, risks to audiovisual heritage, insufficient technical training capacity, rising sports-rights costs and limited financial mobilisation.
Opportunities include AUB’s collective bargaining position, monetisation potential through AUBVision, declining technology costs, growing global interest in African content and the use of artificial intelligence to restore, index and enhance audiovisual archives.
5. Objectives of the General Assembly
The Assembly aims to strengthen cooperation among African media, consolidate innovation mechanisms and accelerate digital transformation. Its objectives include strengthening centralised sports-rights management, consolidating the African Content Exchange Network, finalising the establishment of the African AI Observatory, structuring the African Audiovisual and Digital Training Centre and adopting resolutions supporting the modernisation and digital transformation of public and private media.
6. Expected results
Expected outcomes include stronger commitments from member states on sports-rights issues, a regulatory framework for sports rights, adoption of the Banjul 2026 Declaration on sports rights, consolidation of the content exchange network in Algiers, operationalisation of the African AI Observatory and the effective launch of AUB’s training centre in Dakar.
7. Participants
African broadcasters, ministries responsible for communication, television operators, regulatory authorities, international organisations, technical partners, sports confederations, AI experts and innovators.
Conclusion
As it celebrates 20 years, the African Union of Broadcasting reaffirms its continental leadership. The Banjul General Assembly is expected to mark the beginning of a new era for an African media ecosystem that is more sovereign, better trained, united around strategic sports-rights management and fully engaged in global innovation.
