[kictanet] Fw: [isoc_ke] The battle for control of Kenyan Digital airspace - Way Forward

Thu Feb 12 12:16:41 EAT 2015

@Murigi
..that would be a hostile takeover of the PANG shares. However, I still dont understand how PANG can be 100% chinese owned given a previous policy that foreign telcos must have at leat 30% local ownership(has this changed?).  However, given the full-blast pressure PANG has managed to withstand from the 3local broadcasters - chances are very high that indeed PANG does have its "local" owners in the "leafy suburbs" :-). 

Anyway, from a regulatory point of view, the ideal  market was supposed to be such that the content providers (broadcasters)  do not actually own the distribution infrastructure (digital network+spectrum). This is so that they can "hire" the distribution channel from the few infrastructure owners (PANG/SIGNET) and concentrate on production of content (which is a good thing).
However, regulator failed to anticipate the resistance coming from the 3Broadcasters who own 80% of the market (TV eyeballs).  These guys have refused to "hire" channels from the infrastructure owners - preferring to build their own infrastructure instead. So they are most likely not interested in partnering with PANG/SIGNET through shares.
@Jane - can Safaricom or any (other Internet company) become a digital network distributor?
They already are - from a converged point of view.  You can watch NTV/KTN/Citizen online.  Except that the data bundles will cost you more than an arm and a leg, forcing you to disconnect
Can Safcom bid for the 3rd Signal Distribution Licences? They are ably represented here and so should speak for themselves.  But my take is that it depends on how the supreme court rules in the fight between the 3Broadcasters and the Regulator (aka PANG/SIGNET). 

walu.nb: KBC(SIGNET) has since then gone back to analogue (without the 3Broadcasters, they are "bila" content as earlier predicated).

      From: S.M. Muraya <murigi.muraya at gmail.com>
 To: Walubengo J <jwalu at yahoo.com>; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> 
Cc: ISOC Kenya Chapter <isoc at lists.my.co.ke> 
 Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2015 7:11 PM
 Subject: Re: [kictanet] Fw: [isoc_ke] The battle for control of Kenyan Digital airspace - Way Forward

@Walu
How about forcing PANG to sell up to 80% of its shareholding to 5 local broadcasters?
Foreigners MUST not solely control a company in Kenya with signal distribution rights. 
Regards
Murigi / Stanley Muraya
"Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one who takes a city." Prov 16:32

On Tue, Jan 27, 2015 at 6:25 PM, Walubengo J via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

Its a very complicated chess game going on.
1. SIGNET+PANG are the designated national digital distributors - but bila (without) content to distribute2. The 3private Broadcasters have content - but bila (without) distribution rights or licenses.
Regulatory Options:1. Do you FORCE the 3 to surrender their content to SIGNET+PANG for distribution?2. Do you give the 3private Broadcasters their own distribution network (BSD License?)
Impact1. Option 1 can be and will be frustrated (cry copyright, cry media freedom, cry all over to Supreme court +  now Paris :-)2. Option 2 seems attractive and doable - HOWEVER, giving the 3private their own license has the following impacta) It leaves SIGNET+PANG high and dry with close "nothing" to distribute. Technically the close shop.b) It leaves the 3broadcasters enjoying and sometimes exploiting their dominant position (think Safcom :-)

Way forward.Seek solutions together since a local solution must be existing.  Thorax and chest thumping by both government and broadcasters will not work and will simply leave Kenya's digital migration process critically damaged and perhaps beyond salvage.

      From: Network of non- formal Educational institutions <nnfeischools at yahoo.com>
 To: Walubengo J <jwalu at yahoo.com>; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> 
Cc: ISOC Kenya Chapter <isoc at lists.my.co.ke>; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> 
 Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2015 3:35 PM
 Subject: Re: [kictanet] Fw: [isoc_ke] The battle for control of Kenyan Digital airspace

Dear AllThe cost charged by Signet is affordable on an open opportunity platform. The delay in migration gives the old boys an advantage since advertises are still not convinced off the viewership on the digital platform.

  On Tuesday, January 27, 2015 11:24 AM, Walubengo J via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

 @ Mwendwa,
You are right it should be exceedingly cheap for Jane to transmit on the digital platform. Otherwise the whole essence of going digital is lost.  Here's my other take on the issue @
TV consumers should not be locked in, but neither should broadcasters - Walubengo - nation.co.ke TV consumers should not be locked in, but neither should broadcasters

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| TV consumers should not be locked in, but neither should...It is not too far-fetched to imagine SIGNET and PANG would block content deemed 'uncomfortable'. |
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| View on www.nation.co.ke | Preview by Yahoo |
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      From: Mwendwa Kivuva via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
 To: jwalu at yahoo.com 
Cc: ISOC Kenya Chapter <isoc at lists.my.co.ke>; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> 
 Sent: Friday, January 23, 2015 1:23 PM
 Subject: Re: [kictanet] Fw: [isoc_ke] The battle for control of Kenyan Digital airspace

On 23 January 2015 at 12:02, Network of non- formal Educational institutions <nnfeischools at yahoo.com> wrote:

 We have also been paying Signet and Startimes monthly fees for carrying us and relaying our content to available free to air set boxes.

Jane, thank you for this. I need to understand something, do a digital content provider like ElimuTV need to pay all digital signal providers for them to be accessible by all set-top boxes? My understanding is if I buy any box (say Samsutech set-top box), I will be able to watch all non-subscription based TV stations. As per your email, it seems a content provider has to pay all licensed digital carriers. This is is a very expensive way of distributing content.
Let me understand, if you only paid Signet to carry your content, I would not be able to access it via Startimes set-top box?
There is something fundamentally wrong with how we have structured policy around the digital migration and we need to clearly define a set of principles that must be adhered to by all players.

Regards

______________________
Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya

"There are some men who lift the age they inhabit, till all men walk on higher ground in that lifetime." - Maxwell Anderson

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