Kwesé TV in Zimbabwe Temporally Suspended Till Further Notice

Following a statement by Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) that Kwesé TV is not yet licensed to operate in Zimbabwe, Kwesé TV then temporally suspended its operations till further notice.

BAZ said that the license Kwesé TV used to launch its service, the one issued to Dr Dish, is not valid anymore as it “was cancelled by the authority for failure by Dr. Dish to provide service” when the company initially attempted DTH pay TV years ago.

PRESS STATEMENT

BROADCASTING AUTHORITY OF ZIMBABWE

The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe wishes to advise the public that the Authority has not issued any licence for the provision of Kwese TV In Zimbabwe. This follows media reports suggesting that Kwese was now officially in Zimbabwe and did not need a licence after all. In terms of the Broadcasting Services Act [Chapter 1206J, no person shall provide a broadcasting service in Zimbabwe other than in accordance with a licence issued by the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe. T. Content Distribution licence issued to Dr. Dish, which was specific to the provision of the My TV Africa Service, as declared by Dr. Dish in its application and stated in the terms and conditions of the licence, was cancelled by the Authority for failure by Dr. Dish to provide the My TV Africa service, The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe therefore wishes to advise the public not to invest in a service that cannot be provided without a licence and warns anyone who may contemplate providing an unlicensed broadcasting service to acquaint themselves with the course of action that the Authority is bound to take, in terms of the law.

The statement by Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe really disappointed many Zimbabweans who took to social media to express their displeasure. Here are some things mentioned by a few notable Zimbabweans on the matter:

Less than a week ago however, Dr Dish,  a company licensed to provide pay satellite TV in 2012 (when it introduced MyTV Africa) issued a press release announcing that it had partnered with Econet Media to enable the latter to operate Kwesé TV in Zimbabwe services using the Dr Dish license.

This new announcement by BAZ however means Econet Media and Dr Dish have a regulatory issue to resolve and may need to suspend Kwese TV operations until further notice, as was evidenced by text messages that Econet Buddie customers received that read:

“Dear customer, Due to unforeseen circumstances we have regrettably suspended offering of Kwesé TV until further notice. Apologies for the inconveniences was caused.”

We are of the opinion that Econet Media definitely weren’t that dumb enough to partner with Dr Dish in the first place which is said not to have a valid license to operate and again without proper legal consultation to launch Kwesé TV in Zimbabwe. Therefore, stacks are very high that Kwesé TV is here to stay, and this train cannot be stopped because it’s already in motion.