Six stations owned by Standard Media Group have had their licenses revoked by the Communications and Multimedia Appeals Tribunal over unpaid arrears to the tune of Ksh 48.87 million owed to the regulator.
The ruling follows a dismissal of an appeal made by the media house challenging Communications Authority’s (CA) earlier demand of the amount which stems from longstanding annual licence fees and the Universal Service Fund Levy.
Standard Media Group was accused of failing to honour the commitments which are part of licensing terms and conditions despite being issued with subsequent notices.
The stations who licenses have been revoked include Vybez Radio, Berur FM, Radio Maisha, Spice FM, KTN Burudani, and KTN News.
According to CA, the licences require annual remittance of fees and levies, conditions which the Standard Media
Group failed to meet despite several extensions and concessions by the Authority.
The media house was issued a Notice of Contravention of license terms and conditions, which ran for 45 days from December 4th, 2023, and lapsed on January 17, 2024.
On September 24th, 2024, Standard Group was also issued with noting the non-clearance of the outstanding Regulatory fees and the expiry of
the Notices of Contravention,
CA subsequently issued Notices of Revocation to all the stations on September 24, 2024 after the firm failed to pay the outstanding debt which comprises licence fees of Ksh 13,880,334.37 and USF levy of Ksh 34,994,189.73.
