NGB to partner with KBC to provide Digital Pay TV services in Kenya

One of the leading channel aggregators of Digital Terrestrial TV services in emerging markets, Next Generation Broadcasting AB (NGB), has confirmed plans to enter the Kenyan market in the coming months.

In Kenya, the company will operate under the trading name Next Generation Broadcasting Kenya Limited as a joint venture between Next Generation Broadcasting Africa AB and the Kenyan company Digital Broadcasting Transmex Ltd.

Speaking when he confirmed the firm’s market entry plans, NGB’s Acting CEO Bjorn Weigel, said the firm is partnering with KBC to provide audiences with one of the most balanced entertainment pay TV packages targeted at the mass market in Kenya. Upon its market entry, Weigel explained, NGB Kenya will launch its bouquet of Pay TV services under the brand name SMART TV using the latest digital TV service based on the MPEG 4 technology which has been adopted by the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) and approved by the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) as the standard technology.

NGB Kenya customers will not only be able to receive the bouquet of pay TV channels that they subscribe to but will also access all the free to air local channels such as KBC 1, KTN, Citizen, NTV and K24 among others in digital quality, without the need for a satellite dish antenna.

“Next Generation Broadcasting’s market entry plans are proceeding well and we are currently finalizing agreements with a host of local and International channels that will be part of our Pay TV offering to enable us to launch commercially within the next couple of months” Weigel said.

And added: “NGB Kenya is a local company that will be run by local Kenyan employees bringing value-for-money Television services to the Kenyan people under the SMART TV brand.”

Backed by Next Generation Broadcasting AB (NGB), a Swedish company, with similar operations in Ghana and Uganda, NGB Kenya is currently engaged in the final project set up processes ahead of the scheduled service activation in conjunction with KBC. From its inception in 2006, Next Generation Broadcasting AB (NGB) has been in the forefront of providing affordable, widely accessible and readily available free, post and prepaid digital terrestrial TV services to emerging markets in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

According to the firm’s resident Operations Manager, Evelyn Ngundo, Next Generation Broadcasting (NGB) is recognized as a flexible company capable of working on various business models “We can support Kenya’s social objectives in a financially sustainable way while providing end customers with a quality product that meets their aspirations and demands at an affordable price,” Ngundo said.

And added: “We aim to provide the consumer with access to a quality pay TV service at a price that can be afforded by the mass market”

Kenya, like many other countries the world over has embarked on a migration process from the current analogue TV broadcasting to a digital transmission age. This process was marked by the launch of the digital terrestrial TV switch on signal conducted by President Mwai Kibaki last December and is expected to be completed by 2012.