Advanced Television

Kenya starts switching off analogue TV

July 3, 2012

By Chris Forrester

Kenya’s communications ministry has given its approval to the ending of analogue broadcasting in the East African country.

Kenya’s capital city Nairobi will go dark as far as analogue TV is concerned, as planned, at the end of August, followed by the coastal region of Mombasa and then Kisumu.

Information minister Bitange Ndemo says the whole process will be wrapped up by the end of the year, a little later than originally planned.

Kenya already has two digital signal distributors, Signet which is a subsidiary of state-owned broadcaster KBC and Pan African Group. The country in April adopted DVB-T2 technology for its improved spectral efficiency.

The country had initially set a June 2012 deadline for migration to digital transmission of TV broadcasts. However, low penetration of set-top boxes delayed the migration as only a few of the four million analogue TV owners have access.

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