Consumer Federation of Kenya drops case on TV channels

The Consumer Federation of Kenya (Cofek) and two digital television service providers have agreed to have the case filed by the lobby group dropped to pave way for negotiations with three major media houses.

Cofek, GOtv and StarTimes in a consent filed before High Court judge Mumbi Ngugi, forged a deal that will see the digital signal distributors ensuring that Kenyans are not cut off from the three, local free-to-air channels (FTAs).

"By consent we have agreed that the respondent should ensure that there are free-to-air channels on their set-top boxes, after consultations with the respective media houses," the agreement read.

The agreement will have a positive impact on the digital migration process as GOtv and StarTimes had  stopped relaying KTN, NTV and Citizen television channels.

In the case, the lobby group told the court that the firms had failed to strike an agreement with the content providers. Through its lawyer Henry Kurauka, Cofek argued the pay-TV firms should compensate clients who bought the decoders but were not accessing these channels.

Cofek had also accused the Communication Authority of Kenya of failure to enforce its regulation requiring the signal distributors to air at least five local FTA channels, was complied with.

Kurauka had told the court that consumers who purchased the set-top boxes and paid for the services would suffer for errors committed by the authority.

KTN, NTV and Citizen were switched off after the Court of Appeal (CA) barred GOtv and StarTimes from broadcasting content from the media houses without their consent on April 11. This was after the three media houses challenged the CAs decision which denied them digital licences.

The case by Cofek was settled with no costs.

Related Topics

Cofek GOtv