[kictanet] 3 Media houses protest Majanja's Digital Migration Ruling

Mon Dec 30 10:42:38 EAT 2013

Walubengo,

They actually do not really have the content. Most of them ignored putting
in place content production initiatives and opted to license n pay poorly
for the content they air now. International and local companies have the
content. The framework cck is implementing ensures that these real owners
of the content can establish a tv channel quick and easy.....and that is
the great fear these media houses have.
 On 30 Dec 2013 10:36, "Walubengo J" <jwalu at yahoo.com> wrote:

> @Ngigi, @Ndemo,
>
> this is the hard-talk that keeps me coming back to KICTAnet :-)
>
> my 2pence is that this war is NOT about digital migration - given that
> both Government and Media houses agree on that.  This was is about who
> controls the digital signal distribution (licence).  Its sort of a chicken
> and egg problem in that the current digital signal distributors
> (Signet/PANG) dont have "local" content but have the license to distribute.
>  While the current local content guys (media houses) have the content but
> lack the digital license to distribute.
>
> A license without content is like a gun without a bullet.  A bullet
> without a gun is of no use either.  Who will blink first?
>
> Afrosinema continues :-)
>
> walu.
>
> --------------------------------------------
> On Mon, 12/30/13, Ngigi Waithaka <ngigi at at.co.ke> wrote:
>
>  Subject: Re: [kictanet] 3 Media houses protest Majanja's Digital
> Migration Ruling
>  To: jwalu at yahoo.com
>  Cc: "Consumer and Public Affairs" <cpa at cck.go.ke>, "KICTAnet ICT Policy
> Discussions" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
>  Date: Monday, December 30, 2013, 9:32 AM
>
>  Daktari,
>  Having looked at your comments,  I would want
>  to think the comparisons you have picked do not quite cut
>  it.
>  Fact, we currently have firms in Kenya apart
>  from KBC who have a reliable analogue transmission network
>  across the entire country and so far they have delivered on
>  this.
>  To upgrade this transmission network to pump
>  out Digital Signals, instead of the Analogue is not rocket
>  science. It can be done easily and would reuse such existing
>  infrastrucure such as sites, masts, backup generators,
>  logistics & security etc
>
>  To say or assume that these firms could *not*
>  provide a Digital Solution if asked to,  simply does not
>  add up. Not when they have 60% of what you need and the
>  remaining parts e.g multiplexers, antennas are off-the-shelf
>  parts.
>
>  Second, to compare these firms to Mobitelea is
>  really pushing it. Here you are talking of firms that have
>  demostrated capacity in building & maintaining their own
>  infrastructure and that are employing Kenyans to maintain
>  and operate them.
>
>  These are not politically connected individuals
>  who have nothing else to offer apart from access to high
>  places.
>  These are solid Kenyan companies.
>  Thirdly, this case cannot even be remotely
>  compared to KPTC where competition had to be introduced to
>  kickstart our Telco Sector. In this case you are actually
>  consolidating the *infrastructure* industry to a single
>  vendor not liberating it.
>
>  You are going from more than 10 firms each with
>  own transmission infrastrucure to two firms, one of which
>  (KBC) as you have correctly indicated doesn't cut it.
>
>  So infact you have consolidated our entire
>  transmission industry into a single company, and then given
>  that to the Chinese!
>  If there is something that smells Mobitelea.
>  That is it!
>  Fourth you mention the China Telcom partnering
>  up with Apple iPhone as an example of how countries
>  sometimes partner with firms outside their own. But you fail
>  to mention they never went to Apple as their first point of
>  call. They first partnered up with Lenovo, HTC, Huawei
>  (solid Chines firms) before the call to Cupertino was
>  made.
>
>  You take care of your own first before you go
>  taking care of others. That's what smart countries &
>  leadership does.
>  Lastly,  please let us differentiate btn the
>  Infrastructure issues and Digital Migration issues.
>  On Digital migration,  we are headed there and
>  there is not much support for Media firms on this. Wapende
>  wasipende!
>  However,  on denying them the deal to build
>  the Digital Infrastructure is very questionable and on the
>  very least points to a certain 'Mobitelea' type
>  deal, exactly what you say we ought to have avoided.
>
>  But then again, This is Kenya. Where the
>  impossible happens.
>  Waithaka Ngigi
>  Alliance Technologies
>
>  Nairobi, Kenya
>  www.A1.io
>  On 29 Dec 2013 21:36,
>  "Bitange Ndemo" <bitange at jambo.co.ke>
>  wrote:
>
>  Kivuva,
>
>  Iam a supporter of building local capacities but whichever
>  way CCK would
>
>  have given out the license, there was going to be criticism.
>   CCK wanted
>
>  someone capable of putting up infrastructure after we
>  discovered Signet
>
>  was taking too long and Government did not have money.  The
>  financial bid
>
>  for all the local firms did not measure up to what CCK had
>  requested.
>
>
>
>  You realize CCK has gone through this journey before and
>  were hit hard
>
>  when policy requirement needed 70 percent local
>  participation, we got
>
>  Mobitelea.  Every policy pronouncement has some wheeler
>  dealers behind
>
>  singing patriotism.  World over what is needed is the
>  ability to provide
>
>  the solution.  You read the other day that China Telcom was
>  partnering
>
>  with I-Phone yet China is the greatest producer of mobile
>  handsets.  There
>
>  comes a time when we must accept partnerships that will help
>  us build
>
>  capacity.  We provided that opportunity in Signet but it
>  was declined.
>
>  When you focus on coverage to offer essential service, you
>  look at
>
>  capability as demonstrated in the financials.
>
>
>
>  For many years we protected KPTC as a critical
>  infrastructure but what we
>
>  ended up with was poverty en masse.  Our people would not
>  afford
>
>  telephony.  Ever since we liberalized the communications
>  sector, it is now
>
>  contributing more than 5 percent to the economy up from zero
>  percent.  It
>
>  is dangerous to focus on one aspect of migration
>  infrastructure.  If each
>
>  of the broadcaster is given multiplexing ability, they will
>  hoard the
>
>  spectrum and shut out new entrants just when the creative
>  economy is
>
>  trying to pick up.  The current Media is simply trying to
>  protect its own
>
>  interests considering the fact that we have new hard working
>  Kenyans
>
>  entering the broadcast arena. Why would we be supportive of
>  oligopolistic
>
>  practices when the industry is opening up to more players?
>
>
>
>  Court or no court Migration will take place and new business
>  models will
>
>  emerge.  This is where we need to focus our attention.
>   The delaying
>
>  tactics you are seeing is to disenfranchise more than 100
>  new broadcasters
>
>  that are born and bred in this country.  I said before and
>  would state
>
>  here that not even Signet or PANG would build a sustainable
>  business model
>
>  without serious content aggregation strategy considering the
>  fact that
>
>  technology changes every 3 years.
>
>
>
>  Ndemo.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>  > Ali, I'm afraid many listers are not getting your
>  argument, that of
>
>  > auctioning our critical resources to foreigners.
>
>  >
>
>  > Many of us have been dragged into taking sides either
>  for the
>
>  > government (CCK), or the local media houses. If we
>  divorce them from
>
>  > this debate, maybe we will be more objective.
>
>  >
>
>  > Let me digress, we have enough coal in Kitui to setup a
>  powerplant
>
>  > that can propell Kenya to vision 2030 and stop relying
>  on poor
>
>  > rainfall and other unreliable renewable energy like
>  geothermal. But
>
>  > what did we do with the coal? We auctioned it to the
>  Chinese "who need
>
>  > the power more than us." That is the same thing
>  happening to our
>
>  > spectrum resources.
>
>  >
>
>  > Forget about procurement laws and let's think about
>  economics that
>
>  > will build the country without taking sides. Is it
>  better to give the
>
>  > frequency distribution to a local firm, and keep local
>  dollars local,
>
>  > or is it better to have that capital flight to China?
>  We should even
>
>  > give the third licence FREE to a consortium of local
>  firms than
>
>  > auction it for a Billion dollars to a foreigner.
>
>  >
>
>  > Are we a nation that has lost national pride?
>
>  >
>
>  > Remember CCK cannot have an objective stand on this
>  since Wambua has
>
>  > to respond with the official government position, and I
>  cannot fault
>
>  > him for that. Only civil society can take the high
>  moral ground and do
>
>  > what is good for Kenya. Advocate for our critical
>  resources, airwaves,
>
>  > minerals, tourism, ... to be controlled by locals.
>
>  >
>
>  > Dr. Ndemo is the economist on the list. Can he teach us
>  why developed
>
>  > economies work so hard to support their industries,
>  while Kenya works
>
>  > extra hard to support foreign economies? What are the
>  repercussions on
>
>  > future generations?
>
>  >
>
>  > Anybody who cannot get this argument is beyond
>  uncolonization.
>
>  >
>
>  > --
>
>  > ______________________
>
>  > Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya
>
>  > twitter.com/lordmwesh
>
>  > kenya.or.ke | The Kenya we
>  know
>
>  >
>
>  > _______________________________________________
>
>  > kictanet mailing list
>
>  > kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
>
>  > https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
>
>  >
>
>  > Unsubscribe or change your options at
>
>  >
> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/bitange%40jambo.co.ke
>
>  >
>
>  > The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a
>  multi-stakeholder platform
>
>  > for people and institutions interested and involved in
>  ICT policy and
>
>  > regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for
>  reform in the ICT
>
>  > sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled
>  growth and
>
>  > development.
>
>  >
>
>  > KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of
>  acceptable behaviors
>
>  > online that you follow in real life: respect
>  people's times and bandwidth,
>
>  > share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or
>  personalize, respect privacy, do
>
>  > not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
>
>  >
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>  _______________________________________________
>
>  kictanet mailing list
>
>  kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
>
>  https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
>
>
>
>  Unsubscribe or change your options at
> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ngigi%40at.co.ke
>
>
>
>  The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a
>  multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions
>  interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The
>  network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
>  sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth
>  and development.
>
>
>
>
>  KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable
>  behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect
>  people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't
>  flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam,
>  do not market your wares or qualifications.
>
>
>
>
>  -----Inline Attachment Follows-----
>
>  _______________________________________________
>  kictanet mailing list
>  kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
>  https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
>
>  Unsubscribe or change your options at
> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/jwalu%40yahoo.com
>
>  The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a
>  multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions
>  interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The
>  network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
>  sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth
>  and development.
>
>  KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable
>  behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect
>  people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame
>  or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do
>  not market your wares or qualifications.
>
> _______________________________________________
> kictanet mailing list
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
>
> Unsubscribe or change your options at
> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/bkioko%40bernsoft.com
>
> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform
> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>
> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/pipermail/kictanet/attachments/20131230/d3f0094f/attachment.htm>