Fury, threats as Kenya is hit by TV blackout

The Government was on Sunday locked in an escalated dispute with broadcasters as authorities threatened to punish the TV stations for resisting attempts to put their programmes on a Chinese-owned digital carrier.

NTV, KTN, Citizen TV and QTV went off air on Saturday after the Communications Authority of Kenya raided their transmitters in Limuru and switched off their analogue equipment.

On Sunday, Information, Communication and Technology Secretary Fred Matiang’i threatened unspecified action against the media owners for ceasing broadcasting.

Africa Digital Networks Ltd, a consortium formed by the three firms, responded by saying that it was the government which had switched off the signal and the consortium does not as yet have the equipment in place for digital broadcasting.

BITTER CONTEST

The three leading private media companies, including the Nation Media Group, which owns the Daily Nation, NTV and QTV, have been involved in a bitter contest with the Government over the distribution of digital signals.

On its part, the Government appears desperately determined to make sure that the big media put their content on a Chinese-owned digital platform, among other conditions. With equal determination, the broadcasters appear to have decided to avoid that outcome at all costs.

As a result, the government’s regulatory credibility as a disinterested arbiter is now in tatters and the big media risk losing hundreds of millions in advertising revenue, not to mention the danger posed to hundreds of media and creative jobs.

Kenya has one of the most independent, professional and profitable media companies on the continent, which has attracted the interest of international entities, such as those from China.

In the fight, the government has painted the local broadcasters as arrogant, accusing them of standing in the way of digital progress and harming national interest for the sake of profits.

Local media, on the other hand, say the government is out to harm local businesses, which have already invested billions of shillings and employed thousands of workers. They also accuse the government of putting the interest of a foreign firm ahead of those of local ones. Questions have also been raised about the integrity of media content to the Chinese, who are notorious censors.

As a result of the dispute, the Nation Media Group (NTV and QTV), the Standard Group (KTN) and Royal Media Services (Citizen TV), which together account for 90 per cent of television viewership in the country, are off air, leaving the public without an independent source of news and information.

On Sunday Dr Matiang’i swore that the government would not backtrack on digital migration and accused the ADN consortium members of switching themselves off.

BREACH OF CONDITIONS

“Both switching themselves off the digital transmission and screening inaccurate messages is both illegal and in blatant breach of the conditions of their licensing,” he said.

He added that the Communication Authority had not switched off the digital transmitters of the three media houses and neither had it asked any of the broadcast signal distributors (BSDs) to remove the three media houses from their platforms. The BSDs are the government-owned Signet (which broadcasts KBC) and the wholly Chinese owned Pan Africa Group (Pang) among others.

The three media houses, however, maintained that the switching off of analogue transmission was to force them to put their channels on either Pang or Signet, which would be inconsistent with the right to carry their own content as provided by the Self Provisioning Licence reinstated by the Supreme Court last Friday.

“The forceful shutdown of analogue broadcasting was clearly calculated at forcing the three media houses to avail their signal for distribution by the government-owned Signet and the government’s preferred Chinese-owned distributor Pan Africa Group (Pang) that also operates Pay TV service Star Times,” they said.

The three media houses have also accused the Cabinet Secretary of issuing a statement “laced with threats” and aimed at intimidating them into giving in to the “contentious, pre-determined and altogether unacceptable position” taken by the CA on digital signal distribution.

Dr Matiang’i said the government expects the Communications Authority to take “independent regulatory action” against the media houses for switching themselves off and displaying “inaccurate and misleading” messages which, he claimed, was a deliberate effort to incite the public.

DESTROY TV INDUSTRY

The Cabinet Secretary was probably hinting at the possibility of cancelling the broadcast licences of the three broadcasters, which would potentially destroy 90 per cent of the Kenyan TV industry.

What puzzles even independent analysts is what regulatory or national interest is served by forcing media companies to put their signal on the platform favoured by the authorities. Left to themselves, the media companies are able to buy the equipment and distribute their own digital signals well within the continental digital migration deadlines.

But with the regulator and the ministry appearing to run interference for a section of the industry, court battles and the threat of cancellation of licences, an otherwise straight forward issue has become a crisis.

The TV switch-off has triggered accusations from Cord leaders Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka and Amani leader Musalia Mudavadi who separately said the move was in bad faith.