[kictanet] Exactly how free is FTA?

[Josiah Mugambi]

Assuming the context of Digital Terrestrial Broadcasting, in my
understanding, FTA is from the point of view of the consumer. At the end of
the day someone must pay and value must be passed on....  The content
provider (aka the TV station) still has to pay for content to be
distributed - only that it is unscrambled. The consumer however does not
pay to view content from this provider. The providers revenues could come
from advertising for instance. For a Pay TV provider, the content provider
still pays for content to be distributed. A Pay TV provider would probably
have multiple channels being distributed, and can offer different boutiques
or promotions - choosing some to be distributed unscrambled (and thus free
from the point of view of the consumer), or scrambled (needs to be paid
for). I believe the license for FTA and Pay TV providers are different in
KE.

On Thu Feb 19 2015 at 11:12:42 AM Collins Areba via kictanet <
kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

> I have a question thats been bugging my head to the extent of considering
> reading on firmware of most of the upcoming "providers" for "educational
> purposes". What exactly constitutes Free to Air?
>
> a) Signal distributed free of charge, and viewable on any FTA receiver.
> b) Signal Distributed Free of charge, but provider can encode to "lock"
> users to only using their decoder.
> c) Signal Distributed Free of charge by persons licensed to distribute FTA
> exclusively.
> d) What about Commercial Pay TV licensees that choose to distribute their
> signal free of charge... Would the service constitute FTA service?
>
> Regards,
>
> Collins Areba,
> P.O Box 44441, 00100
> Nairobi, Kenya.
> Tel: +254 707 750 788 / 720 516 758
> Twitter: @arebacollins.
> Skype: arebacollins
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