Friends, today I would like to talk about something that is really bothering me – DIGITAL MIGRATION and the absence of the discussion on it in the public forum. There seems to be a lack of good grasp of this and what its implications on our country are. Most people are not aware of the fact that come June 2015 the world will go digital and those without this capacity will be left behind. In a nutshell and as an example for those who have television sets, it involves two things: either buying a digital TV (else you won’t be able to receive signals post July 2015) or buying top boxes. When I was Minister for Information and Communications, I set Kenya’s target for digitization for 2012. That date has come and gone and we are fast approaching December 2013, which shall also be another year missed. We are just about to enter a crisis management period. Unnecessarily. Why? Who will bear the responsibility? The rest of the world is handling it in two ways: Having invididuals buy their own top boxes and/or digital tvs (which most Kenyans can’t afford), or having the Governments forward finance the purchase. In the latter, the purchase results in a reduced price being passed to the consumer on account of volume. Here, the government ensures that the country has become digital overnight and that it has sustained, among others, the advertising economy. Unless we are prepared or this, our broadcasting houses will suffer immensely not to mention the social implications that include denying a significant percentage of the people information that they should have constitutionally. This issue is a very pregnant one and one that we need to resolve immediately. As Chairman of the Senate Education, Information and Communications Committee, I have put these sentiments on the floor of the Senate. I have also communicated the same the Ministry of Information and Communication as well as the Communication Committee of Kenya and the broadcasting houses. It is hard to tell who is listening and why, given its magnitude, the challenge is going public. I feel obligated to post it here because, dear friends, THIS MUST NOW BECOME A NATIONAL DEBATE.
Posted on: Mon, 07 Oct 2013 15:41:36 +0000
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