THE DIGITAL MIGRATION IN EAST AFRICA.

A recent meeting held in Tanzania by some East African Community (E.A.C) revealed that they are proposing to for governments to limit the number of signal distributors to roll out digital television. The ministers responsible for  Transport, Communications and Meteorology in the E.A.C said this sitting that this will aid the region to migrate from analogue to digital before the international deadline. They also said that they will give the market segment to full competition when the government is unable to fund one public signal distributor.

This comes while Kenya is about to award the third license. The first one was given to Signet, which is a subsidiary of the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (K.B.C). the second license was awarded to a Chinese firm Pan African Network Group, which brought out a lot of opposition from the local private media players in the market. the government gave a bid for a local media consortium, but as per last week the Communications Commission of Kenya (C.C.K) reported they hadn't formed the consortium yet. C.C.K says they are contemplating on inviting bids for any potential investors within the region interested in the third digital distribution license. will the local media bring more opposition after this?