Local broadcasters have been given up to end of June 2012 to switch their broadcasting to digital. The government says by that time the county will be covered with Digital terrestrial signals to facilitate full migration. “By June 30, we could practically switch off the analogue, who ever will still be using analogue transmission will be at a disadvantage,” said the Permanent Secretary in the ministry of Information and Communication.Kenya launched digital broadcasting in December 2009 and set target to have the country fully migrate by the end of 2012, this is three years ahead of the ITU 2015 target. But the decision to fully switch to digital is complicated by the fact that only very few consumers are aware of the movement.
Broadcasters have faulted the Digital Transition Committee for low public awareness on the migration since a very small number of the viewing population may have accessed set top boxes (the equipment used to convert signals to digital form on the old TV sets) by mid next year. So far only about 15 000 to 20 000 set top boxes () have been sold.
Besides lack of awareness the cost of the set top boxes has been a hindrance to the uptake. “In any country where digital migration has failed, it is because there was more concentration on the supply side than on the demand said,” said Patrick Quarcoo, Radio Africa Group CEO during the forum of digital migration.
The situation is even worse because most of the consumers who have set top boxes have the older version, DVBT, and will have to upgrade to the newer DVBT2 which has more functionality. Ndemo said the government and the regulators are looking for ways to subsidise the cost on the consumers as well as introduction of newer and cheaper converting devices.
The Media Owners Association has also been given the license to distribute digital signals alongside KBC’s subsidiary Signet and Pan African https://www.woolcool.com/xanax-for-sale/ Network Group, a Chinese owned company. “The media owners are expected to form a trading company as one of the requirements of the liensce,”said Francis Wangusi, the acting director general of CCK.
The affirmative action to award the local media the licenses came after local broadcasters – Nation Media Group and Royal Media Services protested – the award of the license to a foreign company. Wangusi sad the license was issued on conditions that it will be on an open access platform, the signals are compatible with the DVBT2 boxes and they have e multimedia capabilities.
But even then, the media owners feel there are still issues to do with individual licensing of broadcasters and content that need to be resolved. CCK recently issued guidelines on content regulation and licensing of broadcasters. “The requirement for TV broadcasters to reapply for licenses after 7 years and radio after 5 years may not be adequate for investors to get returns on their investments,” said Quarcoo. Broadcasters also feel there should be an independent body to regulate the content other than the CCK. In the new guidelines, at least 40 per cent of the content should be local, which will require a lot of investment from the broadcasters.
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