Truth about digital migration in kenya

These are the facts why digital migration cannot happen in kenya
What are the Fundamentals in the Digital
Migration: The current media market can
be described as an Oligopoly. Those that
have studied Economics will agree that
dismantling any Oligopolistic system that
has been entrenched for decades is not
very easy. According to research agency
Mill ward Brown East Africa, the top 20
companies and the government spent
more than 27 billion shillings in advertising
last year. With the Analogue system- the
level of investment in setting up TV
network was beyond any average business
man or woman. Setting up the technical
infrastructure to distribute the Analogue
signal was very costly. In addition, due to
restricted frequency space- Nairobi could
not accommodate more than 18 Channels.
These two factors virtually made Television
Business a preserve of the Billionaires.
However, with the Digital System changes
all that. First, Nairobi will have the capacity
of hosting more than 100 TV Channels
since the high-tech system allows for that.
Second, the cost of setting up a TV Station
has drastically fallen. According to CCK
Determination No. 1 of 2013 on Cost-
Based Terrestrial Digital Broadcast Signal
Distribution Tariff issued last week, Digital
Signal Distributors shall charge
broadcasters at Kshs. 125,990per MB for
Nairobi and Ksh.93,202.75per MB for
other sites in Kenya. What this means is
this: Any Kenyan with as little as kshs 1
million will be able to own a TV Station,
and broadcast. What is the implication?
Simple: I can start a TV Station that targets
specific segments of the society like Sports
Enthusiasts, Healthy Living Enthusiasts, and
Religious Issues- at a very low cost. With
CCK ordering that the charges be per MB, I
can choose to have my TV Channel
Broadcast only during peak hours when my
target audience is at home. As my
viewership grows, I shall start getting
adverts, thus generate income. Now, this
explains why the Oligopoly is hitting back.
Within five years- the market shall be
transformed from an Oligopoly to a Perfect
Competition Market. It means that much
of those 27 billion shillings that goes to the
top four media houses will now be
distributed to SHAHIDI TV, Kamau TV
Network and Wafula TV et al.
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