[kictanet] AS DN announces their set top boxes where are the two CAs?

[James Mbugua]

>
> Who’s who between Communications Authority and Competition Authority?
>
> So, today, Daily Nation decided to lead the back page with the news that
> the three media houses that run KTN, Citizen and NTV will be importing over
> 1 million of their own set top boxes to retail at about Sh2500 by end of
> March.
>


>
> http://www.nation.co.ke/news/Advanced-set-top-boxes-on-the-way/-/1056/2587252/-/ay617f/-/index.html
>


> 150,000 of them will be launched within this month.
>
> It sounds like big news and indeed, occupies a prominent space in the
> paper until, wait, haven’t there been set top boxes being sold in the
> country on the streets, shops, supermarkets everywhere?
>
> Yes, but belonging to Multichoice GOTV, Startimes and independent set top
> box vendors.
>
> So, why is DN packaging its plans as big news?
>
> Precisely because acting against the spirit and letter of the Kenya
> Communications Amendment Act (2009) as well as other Restrictive Trading
> countermeasures, the three outlets have been stifling information about the
> existence of other players in the digital migration field even as they seek
> to tie up digital migration in court.
>
> In the meantime, they are importing their own equipment and planning to
> use their platforms to exclusion of others to market themselves.
>
> This is illegal.
>
> The Communications Authority of Kenya must begin to enforce the
> regulations and demand that these media houses, accord the same amount of
> fair coverage to all players in the digital migration arena or risk losing
> their signal distribution license.
>
> Licenses must come with terms and conditions and one of those should be
> that you cannot use existing licenses to unfairly black out competition.
>
> So far both the regulator and the other players have been very tolerating
> of this consortium but it should be clear to them that it doesn’t mean that
> they cannot be held up in the same courts of law they are using.
>
> Other Free to Air channels like Kiss, K24, Family, GBS etc can contest the
> award of the signal distribution license to a cartel that has shown it is
> willing to abuse its market power to retain market share.
>
> Vertical integration of media houses : - TV, Radio, Newspaper can also be
> challenged to enforce fair competition not to have the newspapers be used
> by their owners to advertise the consortium’s set top boxes while refusing
> to carry adverts for rivals platforms like GoTV or Bamba TV?
>
> Both the Competition Authority and the CAK have a responsibility to speak
> up on this issue. Cofek, in the meantime after wreaking havoc in the
> migration process with their busy body ways in 2013, have been unusually
> quiet in the face of very anti-consumer behaviour by the three media houses.
>
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