Stakeholders call for free access of local channels on pay TV

The stakeholders argue that it doesn’t make sense for Ugandans to pay for local channels yet Government has invested in the provision to watch all local channels on free-to-air.

 “All Ugandans are subscribing to watch local channels, including the marginalised people, and it’s not by accident because all national programmes are supposed to be on free to air channel but no one is pushing for it,” Winston Agaba, the managing director of Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC), said during a media engagement.

 The stakeholders made the call on Thursday this week after recording a decline in gender and equity compliance from 67 percent in 2021/2022 to 60 percent in the 2022/2023 Post Budget Framework Paper.

The assessment was conducted by the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) under the digital transformation programme.

 Agaba added that as stakeholders, they feel frustrated because the Government is not bothered about the subscription fees paid by Ugandans to watch local channels.

“The power of communication means that there is a need to improve our own platforms supported by all stakeholders and then look for content, which is educative and guides all the beneficiaries,” he said.

Agaba said all communications stakeholders have a responsibility in promoting gender and equity responsiveness.

“The role of the national broadcaster is to inform, educate, guide and entertain but unfortunately when the air was liberalised, there was a lot of excitement and people forgot that there was a need to have free-to-air,” he said.

He said digital television did not open the spectrum of the ICT sector to flourish but to have as many channels as possible but because of the subscription fees, Ugandans cannot watch all of them.

“Unfortunately by the time we migrated from analogue to digital, we did not even have 50 percent of what is required to migrate but it was ignored because currently, the majority are on pay TV platforms,” he said.