A Kenyan court hearing into a petition filed by three local media organisations challenging the country’s digital migration deadline has been postponed to early next month.

The Kenyan High Court’s Justice Mumbi Ngugi has postponed the petition by Royal Media, Standard Group and the Nation Media Group to December 6.

That is exactly a week before the December 13 deadline government has set for the migration from analogue broadcasting.

The three media organisations have argued in their petition that the government has not put in place proper infrastructure to ensure a smooth migration.

The three companies have further alleged ‘unfair denial’ for signal distribution licenses.

“Denying media houses licenses for digital signal distribution contradicts Article 34 of the Constitution,” argued the organisations in their petition.

The complainants have further argued that there are a limited number of set top boxes (STBs) available in the country to enable the smooth transmission of digital signals.

This situation could leave many Kenyans cut out of vital TV services if the government sticks to the December 13 deadline, the companies have argued.

It has been reported that there are just 26,000 STBs in the country, which critics say is not close to even half the number required.

Also, it is feared that many Kenyans are not going to manage to purchase the STB owing to the devices’ pricing.

Stakeholders in the media sector have urged the government to subsidise the STB prices to make them affordable to many low income Kenyans.

The migration is initially scheduled to cover Nairobi. Government has insisted the deadline is not going to be moved.