regulation & policy

The Ministry of Information and the Communication Commission of Kenya have defended pay-tv service providers for not offering the free-to-air content for free. The two digital pay-tv providers, StarTimes and GOtv have been criticised by consumers for including the local broadcast channels, supposed to be free, in the paid-for packages.

Tanzanian dance music veteran John Kitime has said one of the challenges which cause artistes to lose their rights is because they do not know the copyright law.

Kitime mentioned the reason when he was speaking to Mlimani TV in a special interview conducted in Dar-es-Salaam.

According to Tanzania Daily News, the music veteran blamed artistes for not taking time to educate themselves on how copyright law works and how they can use it to protect their works.

Authorities in Guinea closed a private radio station on Sunday, preventing the outlet from reporting on the next day’s protests, according to news reports. Liberté FM has been targeted in the past, the reports said.

Like in other parts of the world, the African audiovisual industry faces the challenge of content piracy. But combatting content piracy is a rather tricky business.

Ahead of major African TV events such as "Discop Africa", Balancing Act's analysts are researching the TV content piracy issue and practices on how best to counteract it across the continent.

Tension reigned Thursday in oil-rich Gabon where the main opposition said its television station was torched after violent clashes between its supporters and police in the capital Libreville.

But the government said police gave a "measured reaction" to Wednesday's unauthorised protest in support of main opposition leader Andre Mba Obame and nobody was killed despite opposition claims of three deaths.

- Abdi Jeylani Malaq, a TV actor, comedian and producer also known as Marshale, was fatally shot in cold blood by unidentified gunmen as he was about to enter his home in the Mogadishu district of Waberi, SUdan at around 7 p.m. on 1st Aug. 2012. The method of operation used in the killing and the threats he had previously received suggest that it was the work of the Islamist militia Al-Shabaab.

The Communications Commission of Kenya wants vendors of set-top boxes to further lower the price of the gadgets if the country is to see successful migration to digital television. The regulator also said the recent tax waiver on the boxes by the government is not enough to encourage people to buy saying more needs to be done. 

CCK acting Director General Francs Wangusi said this week that the average price of a free-to-air decoder is Sh8500, too expensive for the average Kenyan consumer. 

The board of the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) as well as the Anti-Corruption (ACC) this week cleared director general Albertus Aochamub of graft allegations. Those behind the rumours would be dealt with, board chairperson Sven Thieme warned. 

According to Thieme, they "have taken note, with dissatisfaction", that it is alleged that the tender amount for the NBC's digital terrestrial television (DTT) was inflated from N$30 million to N$70 million. 

- Luis Pacheco, Sofala provincial director of the Mozambican relief agency, the National Disasters Management Institute (INGC), has resigned because of the circulation of a pornographic video in which he appears, reports Thursday's issue of the Beira daily paper "Diario de Mocambique". The video shows Pacheco and a woman who is known to be a Beira university student. It is not clear whether Pacheco consented to being filmed - but what is beyond doubt is that the circulation of the video has damaged his image so much that he felt he had no option but to resign.