CC image courtesy of D'hendrawan on Flickr
MultiChoice Africa has offered to supply 1.5 million set-top boxes at subsidised rates to Kenyans to facilitate a smooth migration from analogue to digital television broadcasting, which is to take place in Nairobi first on December 13, 2013.
The country requires more than four million set-top boxes to move to digital broadcasting, with the switchoff in other major towns set for March, 2014.
Nico Meyer, chief executive officer (CEO) of MultiChoice Africa, announced the offer while meeting President Uhuru Kenyatta at State House, Mombasa, on Tuesday.
Meyer said MultiChoice is committed to realising the development of local content, evident through the recently opened SuperSport studio in the country.
Digital migration in Kenya has been plagued by setbacks, most prominently the ongoing dispute between the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) and Consumer Federation of Kenya (COFEK).
While announcing the new dates on the digital migration, Joseph Tiampati, information, communication and technology principal secretary, urged members of the public to buy the compliant set-top boxes, but did not say anything new about the prices of the devices.
HumanIPO reported last month the CCK had said the current decoders provided by Zuku and DStv will no longer be able to transmit free-to-air channels, prompting the providers to sign deals with local broadcasters to allow their decoders to receive digital signal.
