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Electronic Media
Broadcasting in Zambia dates back to 1941 when the colonial government opened a
radio station in Lusaka. Until after the re-introduction of multi-party politics in 1991, radio
and TV broadcasting was a preserve of the state, either as a Government department or
as a statutory body. However, the enactment of the following laws to facilitate the
liberalisation of the media industry has opened new avenues for radio and TV services
across the country:
(a)
(b)
(c)
Radio Communications Act of 1994
Independent Broadcasting Authority Act of 2002
ZNBC (Amendment) Act of 2002
The above legislation together with the Zambia National Broadcasting (ZNBC)
Act of 1987 and the ZNBC Licensing Regulations (1993) provide for the
legal and regulatory framework for the broadcasting sub-sector in Zambia. The
Independent Broadcasting Act also establishes the Independent Broadcasting Authority
as the regulator for the broadcasting sub-sector. However, the regulatory agency
is not yet functional.
Since 1994, Zambia has made significant advances in liberalising the airwaves thus
allowing private sector participation in the sub-sector. This has resulted in the opening of
a number of commercial and community radio stations. There is at least one (1)
community radio station and ZNBC FM Transmission in each province. Three TV
broadcasting stations are operational, namely; ZNBC, Trinity Broadcasting and Muvi
TV. On the other hand MultiChoice Zambia, part of the pan- African pay TV Company is
providing subscription based Satellite TV services across the country while CASAT also
provides pay cable TV services in Lusaka. On the other front, the convergence of
technologies and markets has created opportunities such as Internet radio
broadcasting, which is becoming popular among local commercial radio stations
thus reaching the entire world with very minimum costs. While this situation expands
opportunities in the ICT sector, the current regulatory framework in telecommunications
and broadcasting sub-sectors are slowly becoming inadequate in addressing new
challenges arising from convergence of services.
Some of the challenges include:
(a)
Non-availability of ICT tools and services especially in rural and underserved
urban areas;
(b)
High cost of access to ICT tools and services whenever available;
(c)
Inadequate local content to support cultural promotion and traditional Knowledge
development;
(d)
Limited coverage of electronic media across the country;
(e)
The role of ZNBC as the national broadcaster with respect to information
delivery to the General public amidst liberalised airwaves needs clarity to
ensure, responsibilities and equity;
(f)
The regulation of Internet Telephony (VoIP) and Broadcasting amidst the
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