Kenya DSO stand-off goes to court
February 25, 2015
By Chris Forrester
It is already been described locally as the “digital stand-off” but the bitter dispute between a trio of analogue broadcasters in Kenya, and regulator Communication Authority of Kenya (CA), will be heard in a Kenyan court room today (February 25th).
The CA was last week given five days to respond to the suit by activist Okiya Omtatah seeking to compel them to allow Nation Media Group, Royal Media Services and Standard Group to resume free-to-air analogue broadcasts for a limited period as they set up their digital broadcast infrastructure.
Kenya’s ‘Nation’ newspaper says that Omtatah is claiming he has reason to believe the regulator is promoting China’s StarTimes Group pay-TV operation with an “improper” motive instead of allowing African Digital Network (ADN), the consortium of the three media houses, to have time to roll out their digital platform.