Kenyans are set for an immediate switch-off from analogue to digital TV after High Court Judge David Majanja today dismissed a petition by three local media firms that wanted the move to be delayed.
According to the media houses constituting of Royal Media Services, Standard Group and Nation Media Group, the migration was unconstitutional, they therefore went to court to stop the migration, set to have begun on December 13.
The three media houses argued that they were not opposed to digital migration, but wanted the manner in which the licensing was done, even accusing the government of taking shareholding in some of the firms that were given the migration tender. Consumer Federation of Kenya (COFEK) said the timing was economically unfair to Kenyans.
The media firms wanted a dual-Transmission of both analogue and digital signals to allow them serve their client’s advertisements. they also claim the other firms want to infringe on their intellectual property by showing Free to Air channel content which costs millions to produce.