Date for switching off analogue TV sets moved to April
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The television sets were to be switched off at the end of this year, but the regulator said more time was needed to allow the prices of set-top boxes, which convert analogue signals to digital, to respond to policy interventions.
Owners of analogue television sets have won a brief reprieve after the Communications Commissions of Kenya (CCK) said the sets would now be switched off next April.
The television sets were to be switched off at the end of this year, but the regulator said more time was needed to allow the prices of set-top boxes, which convert analogue signals to digital, to respond to policy interventions.
“There is need to give time for several government policy interventions meant to bring down the prices of set-top boxes to have an impact on the market. Denying any viewer access to information would be acting against the Constitution,” said CCK director general Francis Wangusi.
The set-top boxes are now selling for between Sh6,000 and Sh9,000 while the regulator targets a price of Sh3,000. Mr Wangusi said close to 40 per cent of the population or 1.6 million households would have been denied access to information had the government stuck to its December 31 deadline.
“The key hurdles include the relatively high cost of the set-top boxes, and the slow deployment of digital TV infrastructure,” Mr Wangusi said.
According to him, CCK would only have rolled out the digital television infrastructure to 70 per cent of the population exposed to television.
The digital signals are currently available in Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Kisumu, Eldoret, Nyeri, Webuye and Meru. In June, the government removed import duty charged on set- top boxes to in a bid to bring down the prices. However, this has had little impact on the prices.
In August, CCK revised the minimum specifications for the DVB-T2 set-top boxes and allowed vendors to bring in converters that can access only free-to- air channels. Previously, the government only allowed the importation of DVB-T2 set-top boxes that could access both pay and free-to-air channels whether or not the consumer subscribed to pay- TV.
It meant that free-to- air channels could only be accessed by subscribers of an operator’s premium content. By making the feature optional, the price of a set-top box would reduce by 45 per cent by allowing vendors import lower versions of the DVB-T2.
Conditional access is a technology allowing pay- TV broadcasters to control what viewers watch. The feature alone adds $40 (Sh3,360) to the cost of a set-top box.
The Regional Radio Communication Conference held in Geneva in 2006 set a 2015 deadline for migration to digital TV, but the five East African Community members set the December deadline.
Apart from larger content generation, the switch is expected to expand opportunities for investors in digital terrestrial TV, broadcast mobile TV, commercial wireless broadband services and help in disaster relief.
Consumers are expected to benefit from clear pictures.
Competition among the providers for affordable and better quality of programmes is also expected to spur the local content generation sector.
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