Many Kenyans woke up to blank TV sets as the switch from analogue to digital broadcasting took effect in Nairobi and its environment from midnight, Thursday.
This saw hundreds of Kenyans form long queues outside distribution outlets to purchase the set-top boxes required to allow them continue watching their favorite television programs.
We visited a family in Kangemi affected by the switch off.
Kenyans have been thrown into an information blackout for an unspecified period as the State makes good its threat to clamp down on independent media outlets.
This follows a ministerial order given on Tuesday through the Communication Authority of Kenya to cut the link between television outlets and distributors – including government-owned Signet.
The Kenya Broadcasting Corporation owns Signet, whose officials were directed to switch off the transmission links from the various television stations.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i yesterday said the State had started investigations to determine if media houses committed any offences that informed the closure.
No timelines were given for the investigations, leaving the fate of millions of Kenyans who rely on the media outlets to get to information at the mercy of the State.
Shut down
“Accordingly, the government took a decision to shut down the concerned media houses, until further notice, as it launches a full investigation into serious breach of security,” Dr Matiang’i said, yesterday.
An open-ended ban affecting the main TV stations opens wide the possibility of a prolonged media blackout on the platform that, according to available data, is the most widely accessible source of information for most of Kenya’s households.
Source-https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/
Video: How Kenyans Handled ‘The Television Black Out’
