New threat as TV signal switched off

By PAUL WAFULA

Kenya: The Government has threatened to repossess all television broadcast frequencies owned by Kenya’s top three media houses: Standard Group, Royal Media Services and Nation Media.

This happened just hours before the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) disabled all analogue signals in the country at the stroke of Thursday midnight, leaving a majority of viewers in darkness.

Prior to the switch off, and acting on a directive by the Cabinet Secretary for Information, Fred Matiangi, CCK wrote to the three media houses asking them to provide good reasons for retaining their TV frequencies.

The three media houses responded in detail to the allegations. Both letters have been published in this newspaper for the benefit of our readers.

They maintained that allowing the Government to decide who is entitled to a broadcasting licence and frequency defeats the rationale of Article 34 of the Constitution.

“We hold the position that broadcasting is a constitutional right intended to be enjoyed by the people of Kenya and by those choosing to invest in broadcasting. It is not a privilege to be granted and withdrawn by the Government at its whims,” said the three in the signed letter response to CCK.

It is also emerging that viewing television will be a costly affair unless the Government subsidises free-to-air (FTA) set top boxes (STBs).

Four million

Local broadcasters are now just content providers in the new digital set up after CCK opted not to issue a signal distributors’ licence.

KTN, Citizen TV and NTV, the top three television stations commanding over 80 per cent of viewership countrywide, must now cede transmission of their content to a Chinese company, Pan-Africa Network Group (PANG) or the State-owned Signet, to have it aired at a fee.

Most televisions in Kenya are designed to receive analogue signals. There are two types of STBs that convert digital signals to analogue in the market today. The first requires consumers to pay a monthly subscription fee to watch. Then there are FTA boxes, which do not require subscriptions.

CCK has approved 45 different models of STBs whose prices range between Sh4,000 and Sh8,000 each. Kenya needs over four million such devices.

However, and despite a waiver of import duty in June 2012, the prices of STBs have remained high and when the waiver is scrapped in this financial year, they will likely rise.

In the United States, a similar switchover was delayed until the country’s government provided free coupons to citizens to buy the STBs.

Even then, analogue signals will be retained until the expiry of the country’s self-prescribed June 12, 2009 deadline, to ensure interests of consumers and broadcasters are taken care of. Small stations in the US can transmit analogue signals until September 1, 2015.  The US model is considered the most successful switchover, albeit with its share of hitches.

Tanzania’s switchover generated an outcry from the country’s media owners and users. The Media Owners Association of Tanzania (MOAT), warned that the changeover was rushed and cut off many viewers, and has been calling for analogue transmissions to run parallel to the digital for a little longer.

Digital transmissions are meant to create room for more content generation, and expand opportunities for investors in digital and mobile TV services. Consumers are also expected to benefit from clearer pictures.

Consumers’ purchasing power has been severely eroded by the high cost of goods and services.

To make matters worse, most pay TV companies are selling the commercial STBs at half the cost of the free-to-air ones.

Broadcasters will pay the Chinese firm, Pan-Africa Network Group or state owned Signet Sh125,990 per megabit for Nairobi and Sh93,202.75 per megabit for other sites in Kenya to have their content aired.

On Monday, Justice David Majanja of the High Court dismissed a petition by the Standard Group, Royal Media Services and Nation Media Group seeking to delay the switch-off.

The three own KTN, Citizen and NTV respectively. On Tuesday, the three media houses released a statement on Thursday’s switch-off, and why they will go off-air once it is implemented.