Three TV stations lose licences in row over digital switch

The digital migration debate took a new turn on Wednesday after the communications sector regulator withdrew the permit allowing three local media houses to carry their own signal on a digital platform.

The decision by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) means that the three media houses — Nation Media Group, Royal Media Services and the Standard Group — cannot deploy their own digital broadcasting infrastructure.

They have to rely on other licensed signal distributors such as StarTimes and Signet to air their content in future.

It is a step back for the local investors who had already committed millions of shillings and employed other resources in preparation for the new broadcasting regime.

The three media houses were last month issued with a self-provisioning licence (allowing them to carry their own content), giving them the green light to start developing their digital infrastructure.

The licence was an interim measure as they wait for the regulator to issue them with a broadcast signal distribution licence that would allow them to carry content for any producer they entered into a commercial contract with.

On Wednesday, CA director-general Francis Wangusi said the licence withdrawal was part of a raft of administrative actions being taken against the three media houses for broadcasting an advert he termed as misleading to the public and “in gross violation of the legal and regulatory framework governing the sector”.

The advertisement, which has been running on KTN, NTV and Citizen TV, warned viewers that pay TV firms GOtv and StarTimes were broadcasting the content illegally, thereby infringing on copyright.

The regulator also said it would work with the Kenya Revenue Authority and Kenya Bureau of Standards to bar the importation of set-top boxes by the three media houses, saying they are not type-approved by the authority.

The media houses are concerned that GOtv and StarTimes have been charging viewers to watch content that they have neither participated in producing nor paid for.

The argument is that the two pay TV firms are commercially benefiting by selling content whose production is fully funded by NTV, KTN and Citizen.

HUGE RESOURCE

Together, the three media houses are estimated to control over 80 per cent of local television viewership and 87 per cent of radio audience.

This means their content is highly valued and could be a huge resource for the pay TV firms.

Besides, they are aggrieved on two other issues — distribution of frequencies and the time they were given to migrate.

The regulator set the digital migration deadline for Nairobi on December 31, barely two weeks after the three media houses were allocated the frequency on which to broadcast their digital signal on December 15.

This means the media houses had only two weeks to order and import a transmitter (which is tailor-made for a specific frequency) as well as set-top boxes to distribute to their viewers ahead of the switch-off.