It is not in doubt that there has been impressive growth in Kenya’s broadcasting industry over the last couple of years. Today, unlike in the 80s viewers are somehow spoilt for choice with availability of several tv and radio stations to pick from. This article briefly discusses the broadcasting industry in Kenya as it now is.

Regulation  of Broadcasting Service Providers .

The Communications Authority of Kenya is the body responsible for licensing broadcasting services and regulating the content transmitted over the networks in Kenya. In fact it is an offence to carry out any broadcasting services without a license.

In addition to this, there is the vibrant Kenya Film Classification Board, a State Corporation authorized by the Films and Stage Plays Act, Cap 222 Laws of Kenya to regulate the creation, broadcasting, possession, distribution and exhibition of films by rating films with the aim of maintaining public order and national values. The board’s mandate has now been extended by the Kenya Information and Communications (Amendment) Act of 2013  to include monitoring broadcast stations to ensure that content meant for adult audiences is not aired during watershed period (5am – 10pm).

Broadcast Licence categories

Broadcast licence categories include ;  Public television broadcasting (non-commercial), Public radio broadcasting(non-commercial), public radio broadcasting(commercial), public television broadcasting(commercial), Commercial free to air tv, Commercial free to air radio, cable subscription tv, community free to air tv, community free to air radio, Internet protocol tv, terrestrial  subscription broadcasting, satellite subscription broadcasting, subscription management service, digital mobile television broadcasting and landing rights broadcasting service.  The license category and the location of service delivery determine the fees charged.

(Landing rights means: authorization granted to a foreign satellite or cable operator whose signal is received in Kenya but the operator is neither physically based in Kenya nor uplinking from Kenya)

PLAYERS OPERATING ACROSS KENYA’S BROADCASTING INDUSTRY

The   broadcasting supply chain can be divided into the Content layer and the Channel layer. The content layer includes all players that develop content while the Channel layer focuses on distribution platforms.

Content Layer

At this level there are a number of Content developers both local and international. They can be classified into the following categories;

(a)Foreign Production

Key players in this category are the likes of CNN, BBC, e.t.c

(b)Kenyan-in house production

Major players are majority of the local Free to Air channels such as KTN, KBC, NTV,K24 and Citizen TV.

(c) Kenyan-external production

This category has many upcoming production houses that are continuously developing interesting and exciting content. Examples are; Big Ideas Entertainment, Dreamcatcher , Tafsiri Entertainment Group among others.

(d) Intellectual Property Right Holders

A major player here is the English Premier League.

Channel Layer

The focus here is on distribution platforms. This layer is further divided into Wholesale and Retail channel providers.

Wholesale channel providers

They collect content from different players then sell. Examples in this category are; cable operators like Zuku tv, Satellite operators like multichoice, Digital terrestrial players like Signet and Pan African Network Group.

Retail Channel providers

These are the providers that connect to the consumers. They can either be free to view or free to air. They operate on a digital terrestrial transmission platform.

Posted by legalwalk in ICT Law, Trends in Legislation