The numbers are showing a big growth in broadcasting licenses issued by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA). 37 licenses in 3 months is a big deal in the media space. 684 service providers as of September 2024, the industry is growing but not all are active—186 are inactive.
The breakdown of broadcasting services shows the various areas of investment. Licenses issued in the quarter were commercial FM radio, community FM radio, free-to-air (FTA) TV, public FTA radio and TV broadcasting. The report also shows a decline in broadcasting service subscriptions, down 4% to 6.1 million. But DTT is growing, up 0.53% to 4.5 million subscriptions. Affordability is the reason. DTH is down 15.2% and cable is growing but still the least popular due to high infrastructure costs.
Content compliance is mixed. Local content quota is down to 88.5% and programming guidelines for sensitive areas like children’s content and religious programming is still 100%. Overall TV broadcasting code compliance is up from 93.1% to 94.7%. This snapshot of the Kenyan broadcasting industry shows its growth and dynamism with increased licensing, changing consumer behavior and regulatory enforcement. The numbers show that investment and content standards must continue to grow and expand media services.