BROADCASTING Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) says 3Ktv is ticking all the boxes with regards to compliance.
In addition, the regulatory authority also said it was working tirelessly to ensure that 3Ktv and other new television stations reached thousands of ordinary viewers who could not afford DStv subscriptions.
In an interview, BAZ chief executive officer Matthias Chakanyuka said 3Ktv was compliant with the statutes regulating the industry. “3Ktv started slow, but It then peaked and never dropped the ball.
As a regulator, we are also aware of the challenges that 3Ktv is facing particularly the issue of reach. “Currently, they are mainly on the DSTV platform and because of the unavailability of set-top boxes, they have few audiences on the terrestrial platform.
“This is not a unique problem to 3Ktv but is common amongst all television players. “The regulator through the government has managed to purchase 50 000 set-top boxes so as to mitigate against this challenge and also to stimulate the market so that members of the public can easily access television broadcasting services,” Chakanyuka said.
A set-top box is a device that converts video content to analog or digital TV signals. For years, the set-top box (STB) was the cable box that sat on top of the TV. Although no more flat surface to rest anything, the term lives on.
A satellite TV set-top box is officially a satellite receiver, and the box that converts over-the-air digital broadcasts to analog for old TVs is a “converter.
3Ktv was licensed in November 2020, after coming tops in a competitive and public bidding process. It went on to become the first licensed private commercial station to operate in the country since television was first introduced in the then Southern Rhodesia in November 1960.