Electronics dealers in Kisii County are bemoaning their loss of business in the TV and set top box sector in the wake of the forcible shutdown of analogue television broadcasts carried out against KTN, NYTV, QTV and Citizen TV by the Communications Authority of Kenya, (CAK).
Complaining as he spoke to reporters, Shadrack Ombuna, an electronics dealer based in Kisii Town, said that the shutdown had negatively affected the sale of television sets and decoders, pointiing out that he had not sold a single television set or decoder in the last four days.
"Nobody is making inquiries on the price of television sets or decoders any more, I'm only doing sales in the music and DVD players department. Ihaven't sold any televison set or decoder in the last four days," he replie din answer to a query concerning the flow of business since the analogue shutdown.
Most dealers attributed the slowdown in sales to the absence of the "big four " television stations, KTN, NTV, QTV and Citizen in the bouquet of available stations available in the StarTimes and GoTV set top boxes, saying that the majority of customers prefered to wait for set top boxes that would come with the stations' content.
Some dealers also wondered on the affordability of the pay TV packages , with Janet Kemunto saying that it wouldprove a mountain to climb for the ordinary mwanachi, alerady overloaded with bills like rent, electricity, water, school fees and other pressing needs.