The Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) has warned ‘greedy’ broadcasters who do not want to share premium content with others on the digital platform, thereby inconveniencing viewers and frustrating fellow broadcasters.
Speaking to the media at the CAK headquarters, director-general Dr Francis Wangusi said the regulator was aware there were some content providers which had gone to court to prevent other players on the digital platform from broadcasting World Cup matches, with StarTimes recently accused of of hacking the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation’s signal to obtain the broadcasts.
“Any premium content in this country that is bought by any players they will have to share with others on commercial basis; they will not use that to abuse market dominance,” said Wangusi.
Wangusi said broadcasters knew the law and were blatantly breaching it so as to get as much out of the premium content at the expense of other players.
“Pay-TV platforms have come up and there is a lot of competition in the market and this is where as regulators we come in to create a competitive market,” he said.
“This is one of the areas where we are going to take very serious consideration. In fact, I take this opportunity to make it loud and clear that anybody wishing to get a licence from us – because they still have temporary arrangements with us- in the broadcast arena, unless and until they agree to the condition of sharing premium content, they should quit the Kenyan market,” said Wangusi.
He said come the next World Cup the CAK will ensure premium content is shared as soon as they issue the licenses so as not to disadvantage Kenyans and make them pay heavily for content.
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