NAIROBI (Business Daily) – The Attorney General’s office has registered the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) subsidiary, Signet, paving the way for the mid-May split of the state broadcaster into infrastructure and content provider arms.
Signet’s registration also gives the ministry of Information and Communications a go-ahead to start the process of constituting its board which will be in charge of recruiting the top management personnel. The separation of Signet from KBC is a crucial development in that it will boost the confidence of private operators who have previously been reluctant to use the platform to distribute their digital content citing a skewed playing field.
Information PS Bitange Ndemo Wednesday said the move is aimed at making the corporation more competitive while protecting its mandate of informing the public without necessarily pursuing profits. “The AG’s office has registered Signet which now gives us a go-ahead to split KBC into two. This should happen by mid next month,” said Dr Ndemo.
He added that the split has also been informed by the quest to have a new commercial wing that is free of debt and tap into private financing from banks and the capital markets. The corporation is indebted to the tune of Sh20 billion in principal and interest to Japanese company NEC for equipment supplied in 1991 at a cost of Sh2.3 billion.
“Nobody can pay the debts KBC has at the moment apart from the government, but by delinking the commercial from the public we are looking at a long-term solution of making the corporation financially independent,” said Dr Ndemo. Signet will have a new managing director with Waithaka Waihenya, the current KBC CEO, retaining his current position while being a member of the yet-to-be constituted board.
The new corporation will be owned jointly by the Treasury and KBC and is expected to generate its revenue through hosting digital broadcasting content for third party television broadcasters at a fee. It was not easy to confirm the hosting fees but the industry regulator, Communication Commission of Kenya (CCK) says that the price will be determined from the expected competition.
Other than Signet, CCK has also licensed the China’s Pan Africa Network Group as the second signal distributor. Already 11 channels, including broadcasters such Nation Media Group, KTN and Kiss TV are on Signet platform which has gone live in Nairobi, Kiambu, Machakos and Kajiado.
Pan Africa Network Group is yet to roll out their network. The Signet platform for transmitting digital video broadcasting (DVB-T2) technology was switched on last Monday giving television viewers quality pictures. Viewers in Mombasa and Kisumu are expected to enjoy the high quality TV signal by the end of this month.
To receive clearer images, however viewers now using lower version convertor boxes called DVB-T1 have to either upgrade them or buy the new DVB-T2 gadgets. CCK said that the new technology offers better picture and sound quality, 50 per cent more programme channels on one TV frequency and a larger coverage area by TV transmission station.
