Experts accuse Shikapwasha of double standards over TV licences

Experts accuse Shikapwasha of double standards over TV licences
Written by Kabanda Chulu
Monday, September 14, 2009 5:45:24 AM

INDUSTRY experts have observed that information minister Ronnie Shikapwasha’s threats against the proposal by My TV pay television to start showing local content broadcast by Muvi Television will work against the government’s intention to phase out analogue technology by 2015.

The experts also accused Lt Gen Shikapwasha of playing double standards by having MultiChoice Zambia to be showing local content of Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) and for allowing Mobi Television to have both satellite and terrestrial licences.

Currently, Muvi TV has terrestrial broadcasting licence which is restricted only to Lusaka but the company has been linking data or its programme contents to a German company that controls various satellite stations and Muvi is therefore at liberty to sell its content to anyone.

And My TV has a subscription licence that permits the entity to receive contents that was being broadcasted by various sources from across the world.

The experts, who preferred anonymity, stated last Friday in Lusaka that there was no illegality in what Muvi TV and My TV wanted to do.

“With a terrestrial licence, there is no clause to stop an entity from selling its content to anyone and Muvi TV has rights within the licence to stream out its signals and countries such as Malawi and Namibia are able to watch Muvi TV generated programmes like Survivor and Banja and like at radio stations, the licences they have are restricted but they do broadcast on-line and anyone around the world can tune and listen,” they stated. “Actually this is the best time to migrate from analogue to digital technology that will be in force by 2015”

They explained that government through the Communications Authority should start sensitising people and business houses about the dangers of remaining on analogue technology.

Efforts to get comments from Muvi TV technical director Angels Phiri and My TV chief executive officer Lloyd Ngoma proved futile by press time while Lt Gen Shikapwasha insisted that a press query be sent to his office.

“Please send your query to my office, I am not available for an interview,” responded Lt Gen Shikapwasha when contacted.

However, the experts challenged Lt Gen Shikapwasha to explain why MultiChoice was able to show the programmes broadcast by ZNBC and why Mobi TV had two licences.

“How does government reconcile these matters pertaining to Mobi TV and MultiChoice and ZNBC arrangement? What is happening is that Muvi TV up links its contents to a German company called Stallar, which owns various satellite stations and it buys contents from several broadcasters and starts re-selling the rights to entities around the world,” stated the experts.

Last week, Lt Gen Shikapwasha threatened to revoke the licences of Muvi TV and My TV, accusing the companies of conducting illegal broadcasts.

Lt Gen Shikapwasha stated that satellite licence-based entities like My TV could broadcast their programmes nationally but they could not take on their platform broadcasts by other stations licenced in Zambia.

And former Economics Association of (EAZ) national secretary Chibamba Kanyama has advised government to encourage the use of broadcast satellite signals.

He challenged the government through the information ministry to support initiatives aimed at digitalising broadcast media because timely dissemination of information to all national audiences was good for national development.

“The placement of Muvi TV content on a licensed satellite channel, My TV, will help narrow the digital and information divide in the country and this is the only way Zambia can effectively meet most of the Millennium Development Goals,” Kanyama said. “At the moment, the dissemination of information which includes government programmes is concentrated in Lusaka and a few urban areas where radio and television stations have restricted licenses. What disadvantages rural areas particularly those engaged in agriculture is information asymmetry. This means that traders and other market players in urban areas with easy access to information have an advantage to market information on prices and markets over producers in rural areas and other parts of the country.”

He urged Lt Gen Shikapwasha to consult extensively over this matter because time had now come when digitalisation of information would defy licensing structures in given countries.

“Zambians have free access to foreign information by the switch of a button and yet restricted to local information relevant for their business and personal use. I am confident the minister will support such local initiatives as that of Muvi TV by removing any bottlenecks. That way, we can have more and more local content going digital,” said Kanyama.