[kictanet] Kenya to rival Nigeria in local content production

Fri Oct 2 12:23:09 EAT 2015

Dennis,

Very true. I will swallow my words. Even Japan Imports cars and Germany
imports Precision tools. Creating a walled Garden is not good state wise.

On Thu, Oct 1, 2015 at 1:47 PM, Dennis Kioko via kictanet <
kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

> I'm not sure why we feel we need to restrict one sector for another sector
> to develop. I doubt Nigerian's movie sector grew because Nigerians were
> told they must watch Nigerian movies 40% of the time.
>
> We are already in a place where young consumers main form of entertainment
> is Ksh. 50 DVDs, which most of the time, carry Hollywood series.
> Additionally, some have started carrying whole series in their memory cards
> and watching these on their phones. We can therefore not assume that a
> government directive will make people watch local content.
>
> We did not need a directive saying that 40% of banking must be done in
> local banks for the likes of KCB and Equity to start competing with
> Barclays and StanChart.
>
> What we need is are incentives for local production - in the lines of
> taxes, licensing etc. We have a lot of barriers towards doing business in
> Kenya. You have to pay a lot of people, get harassed by a lot of people,
> before your first product is out.
>
> We have made in Kenya motorbikes, which cost KSh. 400,000 competing with
> imported ones costing KSh. 100,000. Of course, the impact of a Ksh. 100,000
> is higher (more people can afford this and use them to do other things).
> Hence, a solution here would not be banning the Ksh. 100,000 imported bike,
> but looking at what can we do to help the Kenyan motorbike get to this
> price level.
>
> If it weren't for our policies, BRCK would be doing their manufacturing in
> Kenya.
>
> There is the argument that we need taxes for development, but I think we
> are putting the cart before the horse. We can forego high taxation now, and
> grow the economy, and have an increased tax base.
>
> We should be careful of arguments that encourage policy that favours one
> sector, or certain businesses over others, rather than an overall conducive
> business environment. After all, consumers come from all sectors, and if
> their income is suppressed, there's really so much that you can make from
> them.
>
>
> On Wednesday, 30 September 2015, Mwendwa Kivuva via kictanet <
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>
>> Mark, good points. It starts with one industry,  then grows, and grows,
>> and grows to other sectors.  At least thr Ministry of ICT and
>> Communications Authority led in this. Other Ministries can borrow a leaf
>> too.
>>
>> Regards
>> On Sep 30, 2015 5:57 PM, "Mark Mwangi" <mwangy at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> The government is Dog-fooding the Media industry in my opinion. If they
>>> cant produce local content then whats their purpose? Just regurgitate
>>> whatever foreign media produces?
>>>
>>> I think its a good idea but seems too targeted to one industry.
>>>
>>> I still don't understand why we allow Mtumba clothes, Chinese furniture
>>> and more relevantly foreign software to dominate our market.
>>>
>>> For the Local content the money will create the skill-set and attract
>>> the right people in.
>>>
>>> On Wed, Sep 30, 2015 at 5:20 PM, Mwendwa Kivuva via kictanet <
>>> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Bwana Walubengo has written a good piece on local content and it's
>>>> regulation in his popular Op-ed pasted below.
>>>>
>>>> For avoidance of doubt Walu, I've included here the definition of Local
>>>> content as laid out in statute. Its very clear from the regulator's
>>>> perspective on WHAT local content is.
>>>> Another issue you raise is the quality of local content. Well, my
>>>> answer would be, let us try and try and try until we get it right.
>>>> Nollywood grew from not giving up.
>>>>
>>>> KENYA INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS (BROADCASTING) REGULATIONS, 2009
>>>> “local content” means the total of all television or radio programmes
>>>> which fulfil any five of the following conditions—
>>>> (a) the production is made in either Kenya’s native languages or
>>>> official languages of Kenya;
>>>> (b) production was done in Kenya;
>>>> (c) the content deals with issues that are unique and relevant to
>>>> Kenyan audiences;
>>>> (d) at least twenty per centum of the share of the production company
>>>> are owned by Kenyans;
>>>> (e) a majority of the artistes are Kenyans;
>>>> (f) the location of shooting, in case of audiovisual programmes or
>>>> performance was in Kenya;
>>>> (g) the author thereof must be a Kenyan national and in case of
>>>> co-authorship or multi-authorship fifty per centum or more of the authors
>>>> must be Kenyan;
>>>> (h) the production is made under Kenyan creative and technical
>>>> control, but does not include news and commentaries;
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> 35.
>>>> Local content
>>>> (1)
>>>> The Commission may require a licensee to commit the minimum amount of
>>>> time, as maybe specified in the licence, to broadcast of local content or
>>>> as may be prescribed from time to time by the Commission by notice in the
>>>> Gazette:
>>>> Provided that where a broadcaster is, unable to comply with the
>>>> foregoing, the Commission shall require such broadcaster to pay such an
>>>> amount of money, as may be prescribed by the Commission into the Fund.
>>>> (2)
>>>> The Commission shall from time to time prescribe a minimum local
>>>> content quota for foreign broadcasting stations that broadcast in Kenya.
>>>>
>>>> Kenya Information and Communications Act, 1998
>>>>
>>>> “Kenyan programme” means sounds or vision or a combination of both
>>>> whose content comply with the classification of local content as may be
>>>> required by the Commission from time to time.
>>>>
>>>> 46K. Regulations on broadcasting
>>>> The Minister may, in consultation with the Commission, make regulations
>>>> generally with respect to all broadcasting services and without prejudice
>>>> to the generality of the foregoing, with respect to—
>>>> (a) the facilitation, promotion and maintenance of diversity and
>>>> plurality of views for a competitive marketplace of ideas;
>>>> (b) financing and broadcast of local content;
>>>> (c) mandating the carriage of content, in keeping with public interest
>>>> obligations, across licensed broadcasting services;
>>>> (d) prescribing anything that may be prescribed under this Part.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/blogs/dot9/walubengo/-/2274560/2890270/-/y4ede4z/-/index.html
>>>>
>>>> Recently the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) announced that
>>>> broadcasters would be required to allocate 40 per cent
>>>> <http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Corporate-News/CA-demands-60pc-local-TV-content-within-four-years/-/539550/2782078/-/w76jn8/-/index.html> of
>>>> their programming to local content.
>>>>
>>>> This is just the beginning. Within four years, the broadcasters are
>>>> expected to scale this up to 60 per cent.
>>>>
>>>> What this means, essentially, is that local radio and television
>>>> stations must find local content to fill up the space, currently dominated
>>>> by Mexican soap operas on TV and foreign music on radio, across their
>>>> 24-hour programming.
>>>>
>>>> There are two views regarding whether this is a good or bad idea.
>>>>
>>>> From a government perspective, the push for regulation is meant to
>>>> force media owners to invest in local production, rather than opt for the
>>>> easier, cheaper option of buying third-rate soap operas from Mexico.
>>>>
>>>> In order to meet the 40 per cent local content quota, there must be
>>>> significant production of local movies, documentaries, music and interviews
>>>> among others, yet the ecosystem to support local production is not as cheap
>>>> as most people would imagine.
>>>>
>>>> *HEAVY INVESTMENTS*
>>>>
>>>> For example, producing a movie requires heavy investments in both
>>>> equipment and technical expertise, ranging from scriptwriters, actors and
>>>> stage designers to editors, producers and distributors, among others.
>>>>
>>>> Furthermore, a 30-minute production may actually take three weeks to
>>>> put together. Now think about producing such a series, once per week, four
>>>> times per month and forty-eight times per year, and you will realise why
>>>> most local stations may avoid sustaining local productions.
>>>>
>>>> It’s obviously cheaper to buy Mexican soap operas and fill up our
>>>> airwaves rather than invest in local production. What the government is
>>>> saying here is that cheap is eventually expensive, in terms of lost
>>>> opportunities to fruitfully engage the youth within the creative industry.
>>>>
>>>> The alternative view to the local content policy is that current
>>>> productions are of such poor quality that they would not merit any airtime.
>>>>
>>>> Furthermore, forcing stations to broadcast 60 per cent local content
>>>> contravenes the liberal nature of our broadcast industry.
>>>>
>>>> Broadcasters want the liberty to choose what content to serve their
>>>> consumers.
>>>>
>>>> *WHAT'S LOCAL CONTENT?*
>>>>
>>>> If consumers prefer Mexican soaps, so be it — after all it's their
>>>> taste, their choice.
>>>>
>>>> No one should therefore purport to dictate what is good for the
>>>> consumer by subjecting them to the so-called local content quotas. Besides,
>>>> what exactly is local content?
>>>>
>>>> Would a film such as *The Lion King*, with its African theme, or *Out
>>>> of Africa,* with its Kenyan theme constitute local content?
>>>>
>>>> What of the movie *12 Years A Slave*, in which our very own Lupita
>>>> Nyong’o played a leading role?
>>>>
>>>> What about those documentaries on Kenyan wildlife that dominate NatGeo
>>>> Wild on satellite TV? Do all these films qualify as local content despite
>>>> their overwhelmingly foreign production?
>>>>
>>>> How are we going to determine what is local content, in other words?
>>>> Will the decision be based on the theme, the script, the cast, the
>>>> location, the production crew or mixture of all of the above?
>>>>
>>>> *MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS*
>>>>
>>>> Whatever the case, how will we stop Kenyans from simply switching
>>>> channels — away from the local broadcasters whose content maybe deemed
>>>> too local — and subsequently continuing to watch their preferred
>>>> foreign content on other channels?
>>>>
>>>> This might effectively mean local stations will lose "eyeballs" and the
>>>> associated advertisement revenue to the foreign competition, which in turn
>>>> may mean we are losing rather than creating local jobs within the creative
>>>> industry.
>>>>
>>>> Clearly, there are more questions than answers in the local content
>>>> debate. However, one must remember that you can come up with local content
>>>> without necessarily creating local jobs.
>>>>
>>>> The government and regulators must therefore think through the local
>>>> content policy in order to ensure the job creation intended is actually
>>>> achieved rather than frustrated.
>>>>
>>>> *Mr Walubengo is a lecturer at the Multimedia University of Kenya's
>>>> Faculty of Computing and IT. Twitter:@jwalu
>>>> <http://196.6.203.2:8010/studio/#> email: jwalubengo at mmu.ac.ke
>>>> <http://196.6.203.2:8010/studio/#>*
>>>> ______________________
>>>> 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
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> 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/mwangy%40gmail.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.
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Regards,
>>>
>>> Mark Mwangi
>>>
>>> markmwangi.me.ke
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>
> --
> with Regards:
>
> blog.denniskioko.com <http://www.denniskioko.com/>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> 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/mwangy%40gmail.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.
>

-- 
Regards,

Mark Mwangi

markmwangi.me.ke
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/pipermail/kictanet/attachments/20151002/a2692f83/attachment.htm>