Apart in 1986. The network also promoted notable comedy series during this period such as New Masquerade and Ken Saro Wiwa's Basi and Company. One of the earliest network comedies was House no. 13 (1984) starring Wale Ogunyemi;, a sitcom satirizing the social and urban lifestyle of Nigerians. Basi and Company, a critically acclaimed comedy series starring Albert Egbe was broadcast in 1985. Village Headmaster, Koko Close and Samanja, three series spoken in Nigerian Pidgin, were aired nationwide. 1990s: Partial commercialization Under the structural adjustment program initiated by the government of Ibrahim Babangida, NTA was required to commercialize some of its time slots in an attempt to move away from public broadcasting towards a partially commercial broadcasting network. This led to the addition of sponsored and brokered religious programs and the live transmission of weddings and funeral services on the network. NTA also continued to show acclaimed soap operas such as Mind Bending by Lola Fani-Kayode, Ripples by Zeb Ejiro and Checkmate by Amaka Igwe. Ripples, which began in 1988, became the network's longest-running soap opera, ending in 1993. Checkmate by Amaka Igwe, starring Richard Mofe Damijo, Bob-Manuel Udokwu, Ego Boyo, Kunle Bamtefa and Mildred Iweka, launched the career of many Nigerian celebrities. Following the end of Ripples and Checkmate, NTA promoted the shows Blossom and Fortunes, but these series suffered from declining viewership. At this time NTA, which previously had a broadcast monopoly, faced competition from new entrants such as Africa Independent Television. To compete, the network introduced prime time Latin American telenovelas such as The Rich Also Cry, Secrets of the Sand and Wild Rose. Programming for children or for education usually occurred between 06:30pm and 07:00pm. Shows included Fun time, Readers club, Work it Out, and Take a Step. In 1999, the network introduced breakfast television with A.M. Express. News News programming was central to NTA's and the government's efforts to forge national unity. The network ensured that news presenters did not simply read prepared scripts but acted as part of the news gathering team. As many of their early news writers came from print journalism, NTA made sure that writers understood the importance of writing for visual presentation. NTA introduced a new line of newscasters and reporters such as Ronke Ayuba, John Momoh, Cyril Stober, Bimbo Oloyede, Ruth Opia, Sienne Allwell-Brown and Sola Omole. Specialized news programmes like Frank Olise's Newsline were also introduced. The major