Kenya’s TV broadcasters cut back on local programming in the first quarter of 2025, with compliance to the mandatory local content quota dropping to 74.49%, new data from the Communications Authority (CA) shows.
- •The decline marks one of the sharpest quarterly dips, raising fresh concern over the industry’s ability to sustain local productions as stations grapple with rising costs and a surge in cheaper foreign content.
- •The slide dragged down the overall TV broadcasting standards score to 95.02%, from 97.41 % previously.
- •The sharp fall in local content may reflect mounting financial strain across TV houses as advertising spend plateaus and production budgets tighten.
The CA monitored 39 TV stations during the period and noted slippages across several compliance areas, even as broadcasters maintained strong performance on watershed rules (97.44%) and accessibility for persons with disabilities (96.67%).
Radio continued to outperform television, posting an overall compliance level of 98.57%, only slightly below last quarter’s 98.6%.
At the same time, the sector keeps expanding despite tightening economics. The CA issued 26 new licences over the period, mainly commercial Free-to-Air TV and FM stations, pushing the total number of licensed broadcasters to 710.
Subscriptions Edge Up as Cable TV Declines
Viewer demand remained resilient, with total broadcasting subscriptions rising 1.05 per cent to 6.26 million. Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT) continued to dominate, inching up to 4.546 million subscriptions, while Direct-to-Home (DTH) services grew 3.86 per cent to 1.656 million.
Cable TV, however, continued its long decline, shedding 12.42%of its users to stand at just 55,655 subscriptions, less than 1%of the market.
