Media push to delay digital switch

State Counsel Mwangi Njoroge (left) and lawyer Wambua Kilonzo, for the CCK, at the Milimani High Court in Nairobi on November 26, 2013. PHOTO | PAUL WAWERU

What you need to know:

  • Through lawyer Paul Muite, they said the government should give a transition period of five years
  • The media houses are seeking to stop the digital switch-over on grounds that it will lock out over 90 per cent of television viewers

Three media houses want a five-year delay in the switch to digital broadcasting.

Nation Media Group, The Standard Group and Royal Media Services said they were not opposed to digital migration, but with the way it was being implemented.

They said the shift from analogue to digital broadcasting was unconstitutional.

They said the illegality in the process needed to be addressed before the switch-over on December 13.

Through lawyer Paul Muite, they said the government should give a transition period of five years during which both analogue and digital signals would be beamed side by side so consumers can watch television.

The media houses also argued that the decision by the Ministry of Information and the Communications Commission of Kenya to contract foreign pay-television firms to offer digital broadcasts was against Article 34 of the Constitution, which bars government interference in media management.

“The Constitution is very clear on who should be involved in implementation of broadcast licenses. It is not for the government to decide who the provider of digital licences should be, but for an independent body as outlined in the Constitution,” said Mr Muite.

DIGITAL LICENCES

According to the senior counsel, the government should have introduced a Broadcasting Bill to create an independent broadcasting authority to spearhead digital migration instead of leaving it to the CKK, which is part of the government.

He added that the decision to deny the media houses licences to broadcast digital signals was discriminative, ironical and in bad faith.

“You cannot tell a media house to go digital and at the same time deny them the licence when they have invested over Sh40 billion in their stations, then give the contracts to foreign companies which have no infrastructure in the local media market and only want to make profits,” said Mr Muite.

He further accused the government of failing to take into consideration millions of viewers who cannot afford the pay-television set-top boxes.

“Majority of consumers will not afford the average Sh5,000 for the set-top boxes given the fact that their television sets cost around Sh4,000. They will also not afford the monthly subscription, which will make them switch off leading to death of broadcast media and loss of employment to many journalists,” he said.

The media houses further accused the government of allowing pay-television providers Signet Kenya Limited, Star Times Media Limited, Pan Africa Network Group and GoTv Kenya Limited to use their intellectual property by rebroadcasting their local programmes without compensation.

The media houses are seeking to stop the digital switch-over on grounds that it will lock out over 90 per cent of television viewers and that they were left out in planning and implementation of the digital migration.

They also contend that consumers have not been given adequate information on the migration to enable them prepare for the change, which will ultimately infringe on their rights to information.

Lady Justice Mumbi Ngugi allowed the Consumer Federation of Kenya and West Media Limited to be enjoined in the petition as interested parties.

She also directed the respondents to file their responses by December 3 and scheduled the hearing on December 6.