The companies: Multichoice Tanzania Limited owners of DSTV, Simbanet (Zuku) and Azam Media Limited (Azam) decoders have been barred from airing Free-to-Air (FTA) channels because they are not part of the services on their subscription channels.
The Minister for Works, Transport and Communication, Mr Isack Kamwelwe said on Saturday in Dar es Salaam that the companies were breaching the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) regulations by airing the FTA channels.
“There has been confusion on accessing the programmes that citizens are used to viewing through Azam, DSTV and Zuku due to the suspension notice given to them,” he said.
The Minister added that the contents aired by Channel Ten, ITV, Star TV, EATV and Clouds TV will no longer be accessed from Azam, Zuku and DSTV decoders.
He further explained that although ITV, Clouds TV and Channel Ten raised concerns through social media on August 11, this year, that the companies should be allowed to continue airing the channels while they were working to sort out the matter, but the companies must abide by the laws.
“Wisdom should be applied while we implement the law so that the media industry keeps on… TCRA as a regulator will continue to make sure that people adhere and abide by the set rules and given laws,” he said.
Furthermore, section 45 (5) of the TCRA Act of 2003 states that any action that will be taken by the regulator in executing its roles must be observed regardless the concerned party is not satisfied or has taken the matter to the court of law.
“This means that the service providers are supposed to obey the instructions given to them by TCRA first before they take any other action.”
Moreover, he congratulated Azam for acting upon what they were being told to do. He also asks the community to first and foremost abide by the law; every person having a licence should abide by the aspects and lengths it provides, and urges people to use the right service providers who are allowed by their licences to air FTA.
Giving more clarification on the matter, he said that there are two types of licences, where the first allows the FTA channels like EATV, Channel Ten, ITV, Clouds TV, TBC, who benefit from the adverts they get. While, the second includes Azam, Multichoice and Zuku, who air other programmes that are for personal interest.
“Hence, they are not supposed to offer services that others are giving for free. The intention is to see that the law is being followed; we cannot compromise with the law, we act according to it.
“What they are doing is using citizens as shields, because until now there are no special forums for citizens complaining on the matter,” he said, adding that if the citizens want to be compensated then they should follow the ones that they paid to and there are set guidelines on how to do so.
Recently, TCRA issued a notice threatening to suspend licences of TV operators, for continuing to carry free-to-air channels even after being warned about it.
Daily News
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