Information Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i fails to attend key meet on digital TV row

The Cabinet Secretary for Information and Communication Fred Matiang’i, skipped a crucial meeting with the bosses of the National Assembly with an excuse that he had already met MPs and explained to them the controversial decision to switch off four TV stations.

Mr Matiang’i was scheduled to present a paper on ‘Embracing the media and keeping pace with technology: The status of digital migration”, but he cancelled the date with the chairpersons of all committees and top party leaders within the National Assembly.

Speaker Justin Muturi told the parliamentary retreat at the Serena Beach Hotel in Mombasa that the Cabinet Secretary said he had met the House Committee on Energy and Communication, and that he had also spoken to the Senate just this week.

“The Cabinet Secretary asked us to excuse him.... After consultation, it was felt that his appearance today might compromise, in some way, the reports being prepared in both Houses. Because there’s a problem, which I wouldn’t want to veer into!” said the Speaker, alluding to the shutting down of KTN, Citizen TV, NTV and QTV.

It was expected that the CS would lead his team to give the House bosses clarity on why the Government has refused to give the owners of the four TV stations an extension.

This happened even as Government confirmed through the office of the Registrar of Companies that Africa Digital Network Ltd is owned by Standard Group, Nation Media Group and Royal Media Services.

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A local newspaper had sensationally claimed that the same had been registered under different names other than the ones released by Registrar of Companies yesterday.

The document reads in part, “According to the records relating to the above named company (Africa Digital Network Limited) held by this registry as at Feb 23, the names of directors and shareholders of the above company with their particulars are as follows.  Sam K Shollei, Samuel K Macharia, Nation Media Group Limited, Royal Media Services Limited and Standard Group Limited.

The media owners have asked Parliament – both the Senate and the National Assembly—to weigh in and tell the Government to return all the equipment that was confiscated when the Communication Authority of Kenya raided the transmission stations.
The media owners Standard Group (owners of KTN), the Nation Media Group (owners of NTV and QTV) and Royal Media Services (owners of Citizen TV) want until the end of May to bring in their digital broadcast equipment.

“Communications Authority of Kenya should issue at least one UHF frequency to Africa Digital Network (and) at each of the 56 digital sites in the country,” the media owners said in their aide memoir before the MPs.
They also said the regulator should immediately gazette regulations that require media houses to have prior consent from content providers before re-broadcasting content. They also said the Government should issue a Broadcast Signal Distribution licence.

To the media owners, the crux of the matter was in the forceful declaration by the regulator that they had to generate content and allow the Startimes and GoTV to air the content to their subscribers at a monthly fee.