Broadcasters to jointly apply for 3rd DTT licence

All of Kenya’s free-to-air television broadcasters will form a joint company to obtain a licence to broadcast digital signals across the country according to reports attributed to Business Daily online.
The move is expected to end the stand-off between the Information Ministry and broadcasters such as Nation Media Group (NTV) and Royal Media Services (Citizen TV), who had protested when the second digital broadcasting licence was given to China’s Pan African Network Group.
The acting Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) director-general, Francis Wangusi, said the Ministry of Information had instructed it to issue the third licence to a single company owned by all of the existing broadcasters. Wangusi said the firms will need to form the joint company and show proof of common shareholding. The Media Owners Association (MOA) says it has formed the joint company as required by the CCK, but that the regulator has not made substantive steps to award it the licence.
There are more than twenty television firms currently broadcasting in various parts of Kenya.
Source: Telecompaper
Item added: 28th November 2011