@Kioko, its true the local media houses have not sufficiently invested/supported local content production...but that does not mean they lack local content. Like safcom with MPESA, these media houses have a killer application. Its called Prime Time News. That is where their audience and advertisement revenue is. Signet and PANG and even DSTV are all dead in the Kenyan market without KTN/NTV/Citizen 7pm and 9pm news. That is why the media house by their own volition opted to go off air to leverage their arguments in court. I have elaboreted more on this thinking. @ http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/blogs/dot9/Kenya-Digital-Migration-NTV-KTN-Citi... walu. ------------------------------ On Mon, Dec 30, 2013 10:42 AM AST (Arabian) Bernard Kioko wrote:
Walubengo,
They actually do not really have the content. Most of them ignored putting in place content production initiatives and opted to license n pay poorly for the content they air now. International and local companies have the content. The framework cck is implementing ensures that these real owners of the content can establish a tv channel quick and easy.....and that is the great fear these media houses have. On 30 Dec 2013 10:36, "Walubengo J" <jwalu@yahoo.com> wrote:
@Ngigi, @Ndemo,
this is the hard-talk that keeps me coming back to KICTAnet :-)
my 2pence is that this war is NOT about digital migration - given that both Government and Media houses agree on that. This was is about who controls the digital signal distribution (licence). Its sort of a chicken and egg problem in that the current digital signal distributors (Signet/PANG) dont have "local" content but have the license to distribute. While the current local content guys (media houses) have the content but lack the digital license to distribute.
A license without content is like a gun without a bullet. A bullet without a gun is of no use either. Who will blink first?
Afrosinema continues :-)
walu.
-------------------------------------------- On Mon, 12/30/13, Ngigi Waithaka <ngigi@at.co.ke> wrote:
Subject: Re: [kictanet] 3 Media houses protest Majanja's Digital Migration Ruling To: jwalu@yahoo.com Cc: "Consumer and Public Affairs" <cpa@cck.go.ke>, "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Date: Monday, December 30, 2013, 9:32 AM
Daktari, Having looked at your comments, I would want to think the comparisons you have picked do not quite cut it. Fact, we currently have firms in Kenya apart from KBC who have a reliable analogue transmission network across the entire country and so far they have delivered on this. To upgrade this transmission network to pump out Digital Signals, instead of the Analogue is not rocket science. It can be done easily and would reuse such existing infrastrucure such as sites, masts, backup generators, logistics & security etc
To say or assume that these firms could *not* provide a Digital Solution if asked to, simply does not add up. Not when they have 60% of what you need and the remaining parts e.g multiplexers, antennas are off-the-shelf parts.
Second, to compare these firms to Mobitelea is really pushing it. Here you are talking of firms that have demostrated capacity in building & maintaining their own infrastructure and that are employing Kenyans to maintain and operate them.
These are not politically connected individuals who have nothing else to offer apart from access to high places. These are solid Kenyan companies. Thirdly, this case cannot even be remotely compared to KPTC where competition had to be introduced to kickstart our Telco Sector. In this case you are actually consolidating the *infrastructure* industry to a single vendor not liberating it.
You are going from more than 10 firms each with own transmission infrastrucure to two firms, one of which (KBC) as you have correctly indicated doesn't cut it.
So infact you have consolidated our entire transmission industry into a single company, and then given that to the Chinese! If there is something that smells Mobitelea. That is it! Fourth you mention the China Telcom partnering up with Apple iPhone as an example of how countries sometimes partner with firms outside their own. But you fail to mention they never went to Apple as their first point of call. They first partnered up with Lenovo, HTC, Huawei (solid Chines firms) before the call to Cupertino was made.
You take care of your own first before you go taking care of others. That's what smart countries & leadership does. Lastly, please let us differentiate btn the Infrastructure issues and Digital Migration issues. On Digital migration, we are headed there and there is not much support for Media firms on this. Wapende wasipende! However, on denying them the deal to build the Digital Infrastructure is very questionable and on the very least points to a certain 'Mobitelea' type deal, exactly what you say we ought to have avoided.
But then again, This is Kenya. Where the impossible happens. Waithaka Ngigi Alliance Technologies
Nairobi, Kenya www.A1.io On 29 Dec 2013 21:36, "Bitange Ndemo" <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
Kivuva,
Iam a supporter of building local capacities but whichever way CCK would
have given out the license, there was going to be criticism. CCK wanted
someone capable of putting up infrastructure after we discovered Signet
was taking too long and Government did not have money. The financial bid
for all the local firms did not measure up to what CCK had requested.
You realize CCK has gone through this journey before and were hit hard
when policy requirement needed 70 percent local participation, we got
Mobitelea. Every policy pronouncement has some wheeler dealers behind
singing patriotism. World over what is needed is the ability to provide
the solution. You read the other day that China Telcom was partnering
with I-Phone yet China is the greatest producer of mobile handsets. There
comes a time when we must accept partnerships that will help us build
capacity. We provided that opportunity in Signet but it was declined.
When you focus on coverage to offer essential service, you look at
capability as demonstrated in the financials.
For many years we protected KPTC as a critical infrastructure but what we
ended up with was poverty en masse. Our people would not afford
telephony. Ever since we liberalized the communications sector, it is now
contributing more than 5 percent to the economy up from zero percent. It
is dangerous to focus on one aspect of migration infrastructure. If each
of the broadcaster is given multiplexing ability, they will hoard the
spectrum and shut out new entrants just when the creative economy is
trying to pick up. The current Media is simply trying to protect its own
interests considering the fact that we have new hard working Kenyans
entering the broadcast arena. Why would we be supportive of oligopolistic
practices when the industry is opening up to more players?
Court or no court Migration will take place and new business models will
emerge. This is where we need to focus our attention. The delaying
tactics you are seeing is to disenfranchise more than 100 new broadcasters
that are born and bred in this country. I said before and would state
here that not even Signet or PANG would build a sustainable business model
without serious content aggregation strategy considering the fact that
technology changes every 3 years.
Ndemo.
Ali, I'm afraid many listers are not getting your argument, that of
auctioning our critical resources to foreigners.
Many of us have been dragged into taking sides either for the
government (CCK), or the local media houses. If we divorce them from
this debate, maybe we will be more objective.
Let me digress, we have enough coal in Kitui to setup a powerplant
that can propell Kenya to vision 2030 and stop relying on poor
rainfall and other unreliable renewable energy like geothermal. But
what did we do with the coal? We auctioned it to the Chinese "who need
the power more than us." That is the same thing happening to our
spectrum resources.
Forget about procurement laws and let's think about economics that
will build the country without taking sides. Is it better to give the
frequency distribution to a local firm, and keep local dollars local,
or is it better to have that capital flight to China? We should even
give the third licence FREE to a consortium of local firms than
auction it for a Billion dollars to a foreigner.
Are we a nation that has lost national pride?
Remember CCK cannot have an objective stand on this since Wambua has
to respond with the official government position, and I cannot fault
him for that. Only civil society can take the high moral ground and do
what is good for Kenya. Advocate for our critical resources, airwaves,
minerals, tourism, ... to be controlled by locals.
Dr. Ndemo is the economist on the list. Can he teach us why developed
economies work so hard to support their industries, while Kenya works
extra hard to support foreign economies? What are the repercussions on
future generations?
Anybody who cannot get this argument is beyond uncolonization.
--
______________________
Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya
twitter.com/lordmwesh
kenya.or.ke | The Kenya we know
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