The Consumers Federation of Kenya (COFEK) has sued pay-TV providers GOtv and StarTimes seeking compensation for thousands of Kenyans cut off from three local free-to-air (FTA) channels.
HumanIPO reported last month COFEK told the firms to resume showing FTA channels and compensate consumers or face legal action.
The cut-off came after the Court of Appeal in March ruled in favour of Standard Group, Nation Media Group and Royal Media Services, awarding the media houses digital licences, setting a new deadline for digital migration of September 30 and prohibiting StarTimes, GOtv, Pan African Network and Signet from broadcasting FTA channels from the three media houses without the consent of the owners.
COFEK said the two digital TV service providers sold set-top boxes to Kenyans on the promise they would air FTAs, but they had since been pulled off the air following the Court of Appeal ruling.
The consumer lobby group argues the pay-TV firms had failed to strike an agreement with the FTA channel providers to avert possible interruption and should therefore compensate the affected clients.
“(We pray that) the honourable court hereby issues an order compelling the 1st and 2nd respondents to compensate affected prepaid subscribers by way of either refunds and/or credit equivalent to the period the Local Free-To-Air channels have not been relayed,” reads an order sought by COFEK.
The Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) is accused of failing to ensure its regulations requiring pay-TV service providers to air at least five local FTA channels are complied with, and COFEK is seeking orders compelling the CAK, one of the respondents in the suit, to ensure any compensation order issued by the court was complied with by the pay-TV firms.
COFEK said it has received numerous complaints over the inability to access the channels, despite the promise the two digital distributors had made while selling the decoders, according to an affidavit by Stephen Mutoro.
Consumers who purchased the set-top boxes and paid for the services cannot be allowed to suffer for errors committed by the CAK and the two service providers, argues the lobby group.
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