TV switch-off meetings to start by month end

Discussions between the communications industry regulator and a consumer lobby to come up with a new timeline for digital migration are set to begin before the end of this month.

Communications Commission of Kenya director general Francis Wangusi on Tuesday told the Nation that the commission was setting up a team that would hold meetings with the Consumer Federation of Kenya (Cofek) to come up with an amicable deadline for the switch off of the analogue signal in Nairobi and other parts of the country.

“We have spoken to Cofek and agreed to come up with a multi-stakeholder round table discussion which will give a new timeline for the broadcasting switch over from analogue to digital. We hope to start the meetings before the end of January,” Mr Wangusi said on phone.

This follows a High Court ruling on Friday which ordered CCK and Cofek to agree on a fresh timeline for the switch over that would not inconvenience television viewers as they follow developments around the March 4 General Election.

Cofek had moved to court in December to block the government’s intention to switch off the analogue broadcasting signal in Nairobi and its environs at the turn of the year.

The lobby said set-top boxes were unaffordable to most Kenyans and so the shift would deprive them of their right to information.