Article source: m.allafrica.com
A few minutes after midnight, on
Friday, December 27th, Radio
Africa switched off analogue
transmission of its Kiss Television
Station, marking the end of an era
for probably a majority of Kenya's
television watchers. Kenya's first
television transmission pre-dates
the country's independence by
about an year, having been made in a farm in Limuru by state owned Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (later to be renamed Voice of Kenya, and to be renamed yet again
back to KBC) and covering a radius of 24 kilometres.
Starting the 27th of December,
2013, all television broadcasting in Kenya will be transmitted digitally, rather than analogue broadcasting.
Analogue broadcasting can be seen more like raw broadcasting.
The problem with this became evident as the signal space (spectrum/
frequency) allocated for television broadcasting began to fill up.
As an example, Nairobi has space for 17 television stations on analogue broadcasting, all currently occupied.
A new TV station has to replace or
buy an existing one. Another solution here was to use cable broadcasting, but most parts
of the world do not rely on cable
fro dominant broadcasting.
For broadcasting over the air, a
solution to the channel limitation
was to broadcast television
channels digitally. Digital television. broadcasting carries more than one channel on the same frequency,
compared to analogue broadcasting
which would only carry a single
channel. Digital television
broadcasting takes the transmitted
channel, modifies it electronically,
before packing and broadcasting it.
As an example on the difference
between the two, the
Communications Commission of
Kenya say its has licensed over 60
television stations for digital
broadcasting, with over 20
currently broadcasting.
Before 1990, digital broadcasting
was expensive and difficult to do to homes. In 1991, a group of
broadcasters came together to
work on a feasible way to digitally
broadcast to the home. This led tothe development of digital
broadcasting technology and
standards, currently in the process of being rolled out globally.
Satellite broadcasting has however
for long been on digital
broadcasting, with DStv
broadcasting digitally since 1996,
which explains why you have many
TV stations on satellite. It also
explains why you need a box to
decode a DStv signal (you also need
a decoding box due to the fact that
it is scrambled (mixed up) to avoid
non paying viewers from receiving
the signal).
In 2006, a meeting of the
International Telecommunications
Union (ITU) - a United Nations
global telecommunications body -
in Geneva and settled on 17th June,
2015 as the date when Africa,
Europe, Middle East, and the
Islamic Republic of Iran will have
completed the move from analogue
to digital broadcasting.
Television broadcasting of signals
has no borders, and this has to be
coordinated to ensure that there is
no interference when some
countries switchover to digital
broadcasting. Such standardisation
also ensures affordability of
technology such as set top boxes
and digital broadcasting equipment
and sets.
Kenya's journey to digital TV
broadcasting:
Kenya's long and painful journey to
digital TV broadcasting began on
9th December, 2009 when
President Mwai Kibaki launched
Signet studios.
In contrast to analogue TV
broadcasting where each television
broadcasting station sets its own
broadcasting equipment and
broadcasts its own signal, digital
television broadcasting in most
countries in Africa, Europe and
Middle East is licensed to 1 or 2
signal carriers.
This means that digital TV
broadcasting separates the
broadcasting of content from
transmission of the signal. This
helps in achieving efficient use of
spectrum, which with increasing
communication needs, has become
more sought.
Among the benefits of digital TV
broadcasting is that it releases
extra spectrum, which in our
region (Africa, Middle East and
Europe) is being used for the
rollout of 4G LTE. The band
(around 800 Megahertz) around
which this signal falls is good for
reaching longer distances
compared to 3G at 2100
Megahertz, which means fewer
base stations. Additionally, in
countries like Kenya, most of the
other spectrum is already in use
(with alternative 4G bands
currently being used for military
communication).
The launch of digital television
broadcasting by then President
Kibaki was welcomed by major
private TV broadcasters in the
country, with all declaring that
they were ready to go digital.
A change of tone:
The tone from the private
broadcasters was later to change
when they realised that unlike in
analogue broadcasting, there would
only be a few licensed signal
carriers for digital TV broadcasting.
The launch of StarTimes, a digital
TV pay channel was attended by a
cross section of Kenya TV industry
moguls. Then, relations with the
government were still on the better
side. Local media firms had been
promised a 3rd license for signal
distribution after they had lost to
Pan African Group, a Chinese
consortium which I'll visit shortly.
The government itself did flip flop
channels, switching from a promise
to offer a 3rd license based on
affirmative action (to be issued to a
'Kenyan' firm only), to promising to
off load shares in the 1st signal
distributor - government owned
Signet.
StarTimes:
Over time, privately owned TV
stations in Kenya became hostile to
the whole digital TV broadcasting
process, pulling their signal from
both signal distributors and
launching one court case after
another in a bid of putting off the
process as much as possible.
StarTimes became one of 2 digital
pay TV content providers in Kenya.
Continuing the discussion earlier
on the difference between analogue
TV broadcasting and digital TV
broadcasting, a digital TV broadcast
can carry much more than the
signal, including a high definition
(high quality) picture image and
allowing for scrambling of content
for the equivalent of a pay TV
carrier such as DStv, hence
StarTimes.
StarTimes carries its signal on
Kenya's second licensed digital TV
signal carrier, Pan African
Networks Group.
Signet, the first licensee also has
Kenya's second digital pay TV
content carrier, GOtv.
The Chinese Connection:
While there has been no evidence
to prove it, StarTimes has been
linked to Pan African Network
Group, despite the two denying to
be related.
StarTimes has its roots in the
StarTimes Group in China.
In Africa, the shift from analogue
to digital broadcasting has seen
StarTimes establish presence in
Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda
and Nigeria and at least 9 other
African countries, to bring its
presence to a total of at least 14
countries.
StarTimes also bought South
African satellite TV operator,
TopTV, and is rumoured to be
gearing for a continent wide
expansion as a satellite operator to
rival DStv (again, no confirmation
on this). If true, in Kenya, this will
see StarTimes and DStv battling it
both on satellite and digital pay TV
(GOtv is owned by DStv).
The elusive third license:
While the government had
promised a 3rd license to a local
firm, the Communications
Commission of Kenya says that this
is not possible due to lack of
frequency. On the other hand, the
government had also offered part
of Signet to local firms, but this
may be on hold as signet now rakes
in cash from GOtv subscriptions
and also from carrying pay TV
signals.
Local media tantrums:
Royal Media (Citizen TV), Nation
Media Group (NTV), and Standard
Media Group (KTN) later became
hostile to the whole digital
migration process when as it
became clear that they may miss
on a signal distribution license.
This saw the media houses try to
scuttle the digital migration
process through a number of
lawsuits. Additionally, the media
houses failed to air publicity
material from the Communications
Commission of Kenya and
StarTimes (despite these being paid
for by respective owners) relating
to digital migration, and gave little
or no coverage to the whole
process(including in their print
publications).
The main issue of contention (the
so called 'bone to pick') here has
been the lose of control on signal
broadcasting by the media houses.
The switch from analogue to digital
broadcasting brings in a high
number('plethora') of new entrants
to an industry that before had a
high barrier to entry. All one needs
now is revenue of KSh. 200,000 to
KSh. 500,000 a month to own a TV
station, far below the cost of a
Toyota Probox, a vehicle common
across Kenya that it may be Kenya's
national motorcar.
The many new entrants put our
traditional media houses at risk.
With a choice of 30 to 60 TV
stations, there are many new
stations that advertisers - the chief
source of revenue for 'free TV' -
will have to spread their budget.
The incumbents - current media
stations - will have to work really
hard to keep their viewers and
stature. This, is something you
clearly would not want if you were
in their position.
The lost issues - freedom, cost:
The incumbents, from their narrow
sightedness and choosing to pick a
fight on a ship that had already
sailed, lost the bigger picture.
Issues that needed addressing
include the fact that the 2 signal
distributors are either a
government entity, or owned by a
foreign entity that can easily be
controlled by government (The
Chinese are notorious for their
government friendliness). This
means, if the government were
unhappy with what is being aired,
or what a certain station is airing,
it may have control on whether the
content will be received on your TV
set, or not.
Think of this in times of elections,
or times such as the post election-
violence of 1998. The current
government has already set the
pace by signing into law a
repressive media bill. Hopefully,
the courts will be just in case of
unjust government interventions on
broadcasting.
Issue number two is that of
affordability of set top boxes. Set
top boxes are currently retailing at
upwards of KSh. 3,000, in a
country where the gross national
income is at KSh. 6,145 , far below
minimum income of KSh. 8,000.
The price may go up in the short
term due to demand arising from
bungling of the awareness and
transition period (by key media
outlets), which may see pricing at
KSh. 5,000 upwards.
Local media may have lobbied for
government subsidies on set top
boxes as was done in the United
States of America, with the price of
the boxes being offset by the
income from auctioning of
resulting spectrum, which is being
targeted for 4G LTE use.
Thirdly, there is also the question
of how StarTimes has managed to
establish such a media presence
across Africa in such a short time.
Sadly, all these issues were
drowned in the quest of self
preservation by local media.
What digital migration means to
you, the viewer:
Digital TV broadcasting means that
- current TV viewers will either have
- to get a new TV set with digital TV
integration or a set top box. The
set top box decodes digitally
transmitted TV signals for current
TV sets and allows them to receive
digital TV the same way they would
hook up a video cassette player or
DVD player.
Current digitally integrated TV sets
are costly and out of the reach for
many. While the quality of TV
channels received goes up
(depending on technology, there
might be super clear high
definition (HD) channels licensed in
the future or currently, in addition
to current standard definition(SD)
which is also good), there are a few
disadvantages to note.
Decoders in the market also offer
the advantage of being able to
record TV to USB, or play movies
from USB, or also watch pay TV
stations like GOtv or StarTimes
without change of equipment ( this
functionality depends on your
decoder)
Disadvantage number 1 is the cost
of the set top box. Number 2 is
that you may need a new, better
aerial. Digital TV, unlike analogue
TV, is either there, or not - it
doesn't gradually improve until you
get a clear signal, you either get a
clear signal, or none. This means
that tuning your old aerial becomes
harder.
Switching channels will also
become slower for viewers, as it
takes time for the signals to be
decoded unlike raw analogue
signals. Additionally, depending on
the quality of your decoder, rain
and other conditions (a motorcycle
passing by)may affect your
reception.
Lastly, not all areas will be
covered. Analogue TV signals, even
though they never reached all of
Kenya's population, have far better
reach than digital TV broadcasting
signals, which beyond a certain
distance from the receiver, are
useless. This should not worry you
unless you live in very remote areas
(if you are among 80 percent of
Kenya's population, you are safe).
The remaining 20 percent may
need satellite (another thing the
media forgot in its squabbles).
The advantages however outnumber the disadvantages.
Price in Kenya
Price in Kenya
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