After the Analogue Switch off, Kenya’s TV stations move online to air content

After the Analogue Switch off in favour of digital transmission by Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), Kenya’s TV stations have now moved online to air their content.

Currently, content from the three main media houses can be accessed as live webcasts on their online platforms or on Africa TV 24 a new online platform where Kenyans can now watch their local TV stations online.

The move to online platforms comes days after the Supreme Court’s ruling that was delivered on February 13, stated that analogue switch-off timelines remain as scheduled by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA).

In its ruling, the Supreme Court also withdrew orders earlier issued to allow the three broadcasters constituting the ADN consortium – that is Nation Media Media Group, Royal Media Services and Standard Group – to continue broadcasting on the analogue platform.

The Court also ordered the CA to restore the self-provisioning authorization and the requisite frequencies issued to the three media houses but further directed ADN members to abide by all the conditions that had earlier accompanied the grant of authorization for self-provisioning.

In a statement carried on Monday 16 February by the Daily Nation the three leading news providers accused the government of coercing them into giving their signals to other providers.

They said the analogue switch off was a ploy for them to surrender their signals to government-owned Signet and Chinese-owned Pan African Network Group (Pang).

“The three media houses have been broadcasting on analogue platform and the dismantling of the equipment by the Communication Authority of Kenya in Limuru effectively switched off our transmission,” the statement said.

The statement displayed by the four channels after the switch off also read, “…we regret to inform our viewers that our regular broadcasts are no longer on air. Despite the ruling of February 13, 2015, reinstating us the licence and frequencies for digital broadcasting, the CA has declined to allow us the requisite time to import our own transmitters and set-top boxes that will enable our viewers to receive our broadcasts on our own platform as provided by the Self-Provisioning Digital Broadcasting Licence granted by the Supreme Court. Our channels are, as a result, not available on pay TV or any digital platforms.”

It is claimed that almost 90 per cent of Kenyan television viewers have been left with blank screens after the government switched from analogue transmission to digital. However, the CA responded, stating that more than 1.2 million households have purchased set-top boxes and can therefore access the channels on the digital platform. The market also has more than 2 million set-top boxes currently in stock with more under importation. The estimated numbers of television sets that need to be migrated are 4 million.

The switch-off was only effected in the regions earmarked in Phase 1 and 2. It is important to also note that only analogue transmissions were switched off in the exercise.

CA also points out that Government has not forcibly switched off analogue frequencies and that the switch-off is not in bad faith, adding that that the Supreme Court ruled that the timelines agreed on for the phased switch-off must remain valid. “The enforcement action taken by the Communications Authority of Kenya on 13th February 2015 was, therefore, mere enforcement of the ruling for non-compliant media houses. The three media houses have the avenue to air their broadcasts through the digital networks currently available. They voluntarily withdrew their content from the available digital platforms SIGNET, PANG and DSTV, yet these have even a wider reach than the analogue transmissions the media had before. KTN, NTV, QTV and Citizen TV only had 11 analogue transmission stations collectively, which was a very small proportion of what the digital network coverage currently offers,” said CA.

As the stand off persists, we are not sure how long the three media houses will broadcast their content on the online platform and how long the tussle between the three media houses and the government will continue.