Since the advent of digital television in Kenya close to three years ago now, we have witnessed an unprecedented sprout of TV stations in the country with many others said to be still on the pipeline.
Television viewers now have a wide variety to choose from especially when it comes to specialised content as more and more specific-viewer-oriented stations continue to hit the market in bounties.
However, most of these new entrants have found it to be an uphill task to attract audiences as they lack serious content. This has left majority of TV fans still hooked to the traditional 'big five', (Citizen, KTN, NTV, K24 and KBC) which existed on the analogue platform before digital migration was forcefully effected in 2014 by the no-nonsense Interior CS Fred Matiang'i while he was the ICT CS.
That said, let's today focus on the numerous Kikuyu TV stations which have oversaturated the Kikuyu TV market while generally offering so little.
Three Stones TV: It is the oldest Kikuyu TV station and perhaps even in the vernacular TV category. Three Stones or 'Mahiga Matatu' came to the market close to six years ago when many Kenyans could hardly tell what digital television really meant.
The station was founded by former Kameme FM proprietor Rose Kimotho who coincidentally was the first to give Kikuyu listeners the first vernacular radio station. Kameme FM, 18 years down the line since inception, is still a successful entity which reportedly rakes millions of shillings in advertising revenue.
However, the same cannot be said of the pioneer Kikuyu TV station which Kimotho founded as it continues to be eclipsed by new entrants in the market. Does it still exist by the way? Honestly, there is very little that can keep a viewer glued to this station. The programmes are simply boring even without mentioning the hosts.
Njata TV: This was the second Kikuyu TV station to join the fray and it is widely responsible for rendering 3 Stones TV into the struggling entity it is today. When the station entered the market, it quickly realised that 3 stones was still dilly-dallying in the game and without warning, it grabbed the opportunity and hit the ground running.
Owned by a monied tycoon, the station was able to invest in better programming than 3 Stones which translated to good viewership and thus increased advertising revenue.
The station's main undoing is what can be termed as 'little creativity' or lack of it all. For instance, most of its programs' names are adopted from popular Kikuyu FM radio shows. Why they cannot name their TV programs with a sense of originality is what I can't fathom.
Gikuyu TV: The station was launched in 2015 and found the market a bit tight. Its entry kept critics wondering how it would do things differently from its pioneer counterparts to gain a niche.
Surprisingly, it had something for its viewers too. The channel which is reportedly owned by a Thika Road based pastor introduced the popular DJ Afro movies upon its launch which attracts a number of viewers most of whom are DJ Afro fanatics.
This even prompted 3 Stones to adopt this idea and soon introduced DJ Smith movies to try and improve its poor ratings. However, Gikuyu TV content starts and ends with DJ Afro.
Inooro TV: The Royal Media-owned station was launched in late 2015 with pomp and colour. With it came clarity, rich programming, fresh faces and quality that many Kikuyu TV viewers had craved for long.
The station came with a Citizen TV kind of programming perhaps hoping to be as successful as its sister channel. Inooro can't be said to be doing so bad if the latest Geopoll survey released early this year is anything to go by. The survey puts the station at number one in Central region and even ahead of Mediamax Network's K24 TV overall. K24 is a national TV.
The station is, however, said to rake millions of shillings to maintain its rich programming while the same not reflecting in advertising revenue.
Kameme TV: It is the latest kid in the block having been launched less than two years ago. Its programming is also rich but it has not yet been able to catch up with Inooro which is its main competitor.
In the latest Geopoll survey, the station was nowhere among the top ten popular TV stations in Kenya while Inooro made it to the list. The station, nevertheless, looks promising if it pulls its socks up and stops replicating K24 programming style, which in itself has proved a 'fail' going by K24's ratings. Both K24 and Kameme TV are owned by Mediamax Network, a company owned by President Uhuru Kenyatta's family.
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