Without set-top box viewers cannot access the digital signals, rendering an analogue TV obsolete. FILE
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CCK says parties to set new date for shift after court ruling.
The migration to digital television will be done early next year in Nairobi after a High Court ruling that gave the Communications Commission of Kenya the green light for the switch.
The commission’s secretary John Omo said the date for the shift from analogue broadcasting would be set after the Digital Migration Committee comprising CCK, government, consumers and representatives of media owners meets.
“We could not come up with a new date before the case was over. Now that the case has been dismissed in our favour, the new date will be arrived at after by all stakeholders. This can only happen early next year,” Mr Omo told the Business Daily.
Two weeks ago, the High Court moved the switch-off that was set for December 13 to December 23, to allow determination of the suit.
In Monday’s ruling, Justice David Majanja said that no rights of media owners had been infringed, arguing that all stakeholders were consulted and fully involved in arriving at the switch-off date.
The judge further declined an application by the media houses — Standard Group, Nation Media Group and Royal Media Services, seeking to postpone the switch off by 30 days pending an appeal.
The media houses moved to court seeking orders to stop the migration because there were no appropriate measures for ensuring availability of set top boxes which convert analogue signals to digital ones.
The media owners also said that access to information would be denied and that they would suffer huge financial losses if the migration was effected as planned.
Monday’s ruling means television viewers in Nairobi and its environs who have not bought set-top boxes for digital transmissions could be cut off from the services.
A recent digital migration survey by research firm Infotrak showed that close to half of Nairobi’s two million households which own television sets were yet to acquire set-top boxes.
“The current price of set-top boxes is unaffordable to many. A majority (53 per cent) of the survey respondents (especially the poor) would prefer the set-top boxes to be priced at Sh1,000 or below,” Infotrak said in the survey.
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