The number of licenced commercial free-to-air TVs and commercial FM Radios has increased.
The commercial free-to-air TVs with licences were 318 from January to March 2023, compared 306 from October to December 2022, which is an increase of 3.9 per cent.
This is according to a report by the Communications Authority of Kenya on the third quarter sector statistics of the Financial Year 2022-23.
Further, the number of licenced commercial free radios in the last quarter of the financial year rose to 190 from 180 in the second quarter.
This was a 5.6 per cent increase.
Among the CA's mandates is to promote and facilitate the development of a diverse range of broadcasting services in the country.
It also helps to foster a competitive broadcasting market by issuing licences to service providers on a continuous basis.
There has not been an increase in the number of licenced community free-to-air TV in the last three months, compared to the prior quarter.
The number has remained at nine.
However, licenced community FM Radios increased from 63 to 67, which translated to 6.3 per cent.
From January to March 2023, the total subscriptions for broadcasting services grew by 0.2 per cent. This was from 6.191 million reported during the preceding quarter to 6.205 million.
In Digital Terrestrial Transmission (DTT) the total subscription was 4,407,645 from 4,385,491 marking a 0.5 per cent increase.
Gotv subscriptions rose from 2,654,583 (October -December 2022) to 2,671,697 (March 2023) translating to 0.6 per cent.
Star Times marked a 0.3 per cent increased from 1,730,908 to 1,735,948.
Direct-to-home (DTH) broadcasting services decreased by 0.3 per cent from 1,746,179 in the second quarter to 1,740,913 in the last quarter.
Further, cable subscriptions dropped by 4.1 per cent from 59,440 to 57,004.
