Media Owners to Pay Less for Content

Analysis Mason, a UK telecom advisory firm has recommended that broadcasters pay sh.84,063 per month to Signet and Pan-Africa Network Group (PANG), for content aired within Nairobi and its environs. Currently, they are normally charged sh.128,000 every month.

If this takes effect, it means that the fee which TV owners are charged will have to drop by almost half, which is an advantage on their side.

The Communications Authority of Kenya, which is mandated with the regulatory task contacted the firm early this year as to help them review the existing broadcast signal distribution framework and make recommendations based on the best international practices.

Stakeholders have been asked to give their opinions concerning the recommendations in two weeks’ time. The low prices are meant to enable more broadcasters to air good quality services without interruptions thus create varieties for the consumers who keeps on watching the same content most of the time.

The streamlined study has stated that programmes will be broadcasted at 12. megabits per second. The study has gone ahead to recommend that there be no repeating of programs once the tariffs come into place.

Some disadvantages to the broadcasters will include being restricted to the specific channel numbers which will not be changed, and the content aired by broadcasters will remain the same without modifications unless put in writing.

The Communications Authority of Kenya took this broad step after Media owners protested tariffs charged by signal distributors stating that they were being overcharged. They stated that they were being charged Sh.1 million for transmitting content across the country and Sh.321,000for Nairobi and its environs.

The ministry of ICT suggested to the CA to come up with a fair way of granting licenses and allocating of frequencies to the prospective licenses among other regulatory roles.

Some upcoming media houses urged the government to cushion some of the monthly tariffs for at least ten years so as to enable the digital migration to fully take effect.