CCK shuts down six Royal Media Services transmitters

The Communication Commission of Kenya has shut down six Royal Media Services broadcast transmitters that the regulator says were operating without licences.

The transmitters are located in Nakuru, Narok, Mukuyuni in Makueni and Mambrui, Malindi. which CCK said were using unauthorised or ‘grabbed’ frequencies.

In a statement, CCK said the six transmitters were part of 17 "put up illegally by Royal Media Services in the recent past without a licence from CCK, and therefore in contravention of the law". 

"Some of the transmitters are located in non-designated broadcasting sites thus causing interferences to other critical services including aviation.  

A further 22 FM and 2 TV unauthorized frequencies that Royal Media Services acquired in the same manner between 2008 and 2012 are pending adjudication in the courts," CCK Director General Francis Wangusi said Saturday.

Mr Wangusi said the illegal transmitters were causing interferences to broadcasters in Kenya and the region.

"In some instance the interferences are so intense that the services of other broadcasters using duly authorised frequencies have been rendered completely inoperable,” he said.

Mr Wangusi said the transmitters were a threat to Kenya's airspace.

"The safety of our airspace was under threat as these illegal transmitters had on a number of occasions caused interferences to communication between pilots and the control tower at our main airports," Mr Wangusi said.

He said CCK would shut down "11 illegal stations to ensure that all players in the broadcasting sector operate within the law".