TANZANIA
Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) has threatened to suspend
MultiChoice Tanzania and Simbanet licences for airing free to air
television channels contrary to governing laws and regulations.
TCRA
accused the two for failing to abide by licence stated conditions
despite several warnings to not air free to air (FTA) channels as part
of their services on subscription channels.
MultiChoice
and Simbanet, which trade as Zuku, are not authorised by licence to
include free to air television channels as part of services on
subscription channels,” TRCA said in public notices published yesterday.
The regulator urged that the two despite being ordered to stop including FTA television channels they continued carrying them.
MultiChoice
Tanzania Public Relations Manager Johnson Mshana said was aware of the
notice issued by the TCRA yesterday but the issues are before Fair
Competition Tribunal (FCT).
“We
believe the notice is premature since the carriage of FTA services by
pay TV operators is currently before the Fair Competition Tribunal,” Mr
Mshana told the ‘Daily News' in an email yesterday.
In
June 2016, TCRA started an initiative to suspend free-to-air channels
on pay TV services at the end of the month to cut operational costs.
The
regulator was offering four FTA channels, but later reversed its
decision and frozen the plan. The decision came after the country
managed to switch from analogue television signal to digital at the end
of 2012 and became the first in mainland Sub-Saharan Africa to do so.
FTA
are television and radio services broadcast in clear (unencrypted)
form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to
receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a
subscription, other ongoing cost or one-off fee—for instance
pay-per-view.
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