Digital Migration, PPP and Uncompetitive behaviour in Kenya
TWO WEEKS AGO, the government of Kenya closed down the analogue broadcast system in some parts of the country. That meant all broadcasters had to shift to the digital broadcast system. While others were crossing the bridge, three leading media house chose to shut themselves even from the digital platform on which they were broadcasting previously. Their argument, they have not been in the digital broadcast platform and that the digital carriers were carrying the content of KNT, NTV and Citizen TV illegally. That move sparked off a debate that is still raging. The context of this piece is not to plunge into the Cacophony of noise that is passing for debate. Mine is to explain the new business model into which the media houses are moving. The noise and shenanigans is a reflection of the failure by the media houses and their supporters- some of who claim some place in the intellectual world- to understand the concept of private Public Partnerships and what it involves. ...