Broadcasters want competition for digital migration deal
Sep 12, 2011
BROADCASTING industry players want the Government to review the digital migration project to bring on board more companies for the distribution of digital signals.
By Henry Sekanjako
and Raymond Baguma
BROADCASTING industry players want the Government to review the digital migration project to bring on board more companies for the distribution of digital signals.
This follows a proposal by the Government to grant the national broadcaster, Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC), exclusive rights over the distribution of signals when the country migrates from analogue to digital broadcasting next year.
They argue that competitive bidding, will ensure that the Government gets value for the tax payers’ money.
The industry players, who include the National Association of Broadcasters and Pay TV companies, made their plea while appearing before the parliamentary committee on information and communication technology recently.
The general manager of Multichoice Uganda, Charles Hamya, said: “There is need for more than one signal distributor so that in case of network failure, the other distributor can serve the consumers.â€
Last week Parliament unanimously voted against a proposal to grant UBC exclusive rights over the distribution of signals when the country migrates from analogue to digital broadcasting next year.
Presenting the ICT report last week, MP Nathan Igeme Nabeta, the committee chairperson, said a single distributor in countries like Norway had failed to provide the required services.
Parliament heard that in the East African region, Kenya and Rwanda had already approved two digital signal providers, while Tanzania had approved three.
and Raymond Baguma
BROADCASTING industry players want the Government to review the digital migration project to bring on board more companies for the distribution of digital signals.
This follows a proposal by the Government to grant the national broadcaster, Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC), exclusive rights over the distribution of signals when the country migrates from analogue to digital broadcasting next year.
They argue that competitive bidding, will ensure that the Government gets value for the tax payers’ money.
The industry players, who include the National Association of Broadcasters and Pay TV companies, made their plea while appearing before the parliamentary committee on information and communication technology recently.
The general manager of Multichoice Uganda, Charles Hamya, said: “There is need for more than one signal distributor so that in case of network failure, the other distributor can serve the consumers.â€
Last week Parliament unanimously voted against a proposal to grant UBC exclusive rights over the distribution of signals when the country migrates from analogue to digital broadcasting next year.
Presenting the ICT report last week, MP Nathan Igeme Nabeta, the committee chairperson, said a single distributor in countries like Norway had failed to provide the required services.
Parliament heard that in the East African region, Kenya and Rwanda had already approved two digital signal providers, while Tanzania had approved three.