The Supreme Court of Kenya has today put Kenya’s journey towards digital television back on track following the delivery of a ruling discharging interim injunction orders that had been issued in December 2014 allowing the three main television stations operated by Royal Media Services, Nation Media Group and The Standard Group to remain on the analogue television platform.

The effect of today’s ruling is that all players in the television sector in Kenya are now expected to switch off their analogue television signals and operate on the digital platform in accordance with a schedule that had been announced by the Communications Authority of Kenya on 28 November 2014. The analogue switch off was to have taken place in three phases with Nairobi and its environs switching off on 31 December 2014 in the first phase. Mombasa, Nakuru, Eldoret and other major towns were to have switched off on 2 February 2015 in the second phase, with the last phase covering all remaining sites taking place on 31 March 2015.

Coulson Harney partners, Evans Monari and Anthony Njogu, were involved in the litigation on behalf of GOtv Kenya Limited since the battle over the digital migration began in November 2013. The Supreme Court in its ruling stated that the three media houses had been placed in an advantageous and realistic position to enter upon competition with other players in the digital transmissions sector by being granted temporary authorization to distribute their content on the analogue platform.

In the Supreme Court’s words: “… the stage was properly set for migration from the analogue to the digital platform in broadcast transmissions, and there was, and is, a new national and international reality in that regard…”

We look forward to a new era in Kenya’s television broadcasting sector and are proud of the role that Coulson Harney has played in getting to this point, not only for our client but for the country as a whole.