TRANSITION FROM ANALOGUE TO DIGITAL BROADCASTING
		The Government is keen on seeing Kenya attain fully digital television broadcasting by the year 2012, three years before the internationally accepted deadline of 2015 when all countries are expected to have switched to the technology. Early this year, the Minister for Information and Communications Mr. Samuel Poghisio unveiled a Digital Television Committee (DTC) to facilitate the switchover from analogue to digital broadcasting.The 11 member committee chaired by Engineer Daniel Obam, consisting of experts from private and public sectors was formed following a recommendation by Analogue to Digital broadcasting Migration taskforce which handed in its report in October 2007.The committee will implement the recommendations of the task force and look into the issue of broadcasting signal distribution as part of the migration process.

Currently, digital televisions sets are very expensive retailing at an average of Ksh170, 000 a sum which few Kenyans can afford. Thus, a majority of Kenyans who have analogue TVs, will need to buy a set top converter box going for an average of  Ksh. 1000, to access digital content.

However, the Permanent Secretary Dr. Bitange Ndemo has cautioned Kenyans on the possibility of dumping of analogue sets into the country. He said the anticipated shift had resulted in drastic reduction in prices of analogue televisions. “We have no legal case to stop the imports but it is good for the customer to know the developments in the market," Dr Ndemo said.

On this issue, the minister urged the committee to conduct consumer awareness campaigns since most people in the country are yet to understand the meaning of the planned switch.

DTV has several advantages over analogue TV, the most significant being that digital channels take up less bandwidth. This means that digital broadcasters can provide more digital channels in the same space, provide high-definition television service, or provide other non-television services such as multimedia or interactivity.

DTV also permits special services such as multiplexing (more than one program on the same channel), electronic program guides and additional languages, spoken or subtitled. In many cases, viewers perceive DTV to have superior picture quality, improved audio quality, and easier reception than analogue.