19 television, radios to be switched off

By Chris Kiwawulo & Carol Kasujja                       

All televisions and radio stations using the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) mast in Kololo will be off air on Sunday to allow migration from analogue to digital broadcasting.

UBC acting managing director, Paul Kihika, in a July 31 notice asked managers of all the 19 tenants (radio and television stations) to go to Kololo and switch off their equipment before work can start. He said this will allow contractors to remove the existing antennae and replace them with new ones.

"UBC in partnership with Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) is in the final stages of implementing the Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) project for greater Kampala. We have reached the time of replacement of the antenna system to meet DTT requirements and this necessitates switching off all services to enable rigging work to complete the installations within the shortest possible time," Kihika noted.

The affected stations are; Bukedde, Urban, CCTV, CRI, Citizen, East Africa TV, NTV, ITV, LTV, Miracle, Top, WBS, NBS and Record. Tenant radio stations to be affected are; Super FM, BBC, Citizen Radio, Sanyu FM, East Africa Radio. Kihika said UBC and its sister stations will also be affected because they use the same mast.

 The head of Television at Vision Group, Mark Walungama said; "we received an official communication that all television stations will be switched off .This is going to affect our revenue. However, our viewers on DSTV, GO TV and Star Times will not be affected as far as Bukedde and Urban TV are concerned."

Kihika’s notice which had indicated that the stations will remain off for three days (Friday August 2 up to Sunday August 4) has since been changed. Kihika said they've instead shifted the work to Sunday for 12 hours.

"We hope to complete the work on Sunday but we don't, we shall have to extend to Monday (August 5)." The closure on Friday would have meant that celebrations to mark Kabaka Ronald Mutebi's 20th coronation anniversary that several media houses usually broadcast live would not have been aired.

Kihika explained that the disruption is clear the tenancy agreement which has a clause that allows interruption their broadcast if the need for routine maintenance arises and they are notified early enough to prepare themselves for it.

Godfrey Mutabazi, the UCC executive director said; "We have got only one long mast at Kololo that we intend to use for the installation of the new antennas. Unfortunately, the old system is also located on that mast so we will have to switch off all services to be able to connect to digital. People have been complaining that Uganda is behind technology, now we are moving forward with the world. We need co-operation from the public."

Uganda Media Centre executive director, Ofwono Opondo, said Uganda has been delaying to switch from analogue to digital just like the sim card registration exercise. "This is not political but technical. We are not closing but we are migrating from analogue to digital. We need about four days to fully migrate. Some televisions with modern equipment will take lesser days but UBC will take four days."