LOCAL private television broadcasters are worried about the unfair competition that is likely to unfold from a move by the government to entrust Uganda Broadcasting Corporation rights to sell digital television signals, writes Walter Wafula in the Monitor.ÂÂÂ
The Chairman of the National Association of Broadcasters, Captain Francis Babu, at the first public viewing of a pilot digital television transmission in Kampala on Monday, called for the establishment of either a neutral digital television distribution company or the establishment of both private and public companies to promote healthy competition.
Capt. Babu’s call comes at a time when Uganda is preparing to embrace digital television broadcasting which is expected to replace the current analogue television transmission by December 2012.
He argued that UBC is a service provider like other private broadcasters and therefore should not be given an upper hand.
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Uganda has about 26 operational television stations with 44 licensed according to statistics from the Uganda Communications Commission. “We don’t want to be regulated by one of us,†he said.
Click here to read the full report, posted on the Monitor's website.
