KENYA STATE BROADCASTER SHIFT TO HD BOOSTED WITH SH37M MULTICHOICE EQUIPMENT

Multichoice Kenya yesterday handed over video switchers, a high definition audio-visual recorder, routing matrix, playout servers and a Media Asset Management (MAM) Storage System among other TV studio items to state broadcaster, KBC as part of its transition to full end-to-end HD.

KBC Acting managing director, Samuel Maina said:

“In our quest to improve our picture and sound quality, KBC has in the recent past upgraded the video and audio formats to achieve an overall HD signal from content management to transmission. As part of the improvement process, KBC has been in partnership with Multichoice Kenya which has acquired modern broadcasting facilities to aid in the achievement of more efficient content and news management processes."

The equipment is worth Sh37m (US$320,000).

According to him, the donation will greatly enhance the following areas within KBC:

• Automation of processes workflows.
• Storage of content will be made easier through complete, networked, high-performance shared storage workflow servers.
• Assist in archiving the content in digital formats
• Automate newsroom operations by offering advanced collaborative planning, social media workflows, A.I. functionalities and state-of-the-art integration with studio automation systems.
• Training and skills transfer: KBC staff will be trained so as to get most of the systems and solution applied.

 

The newsroom management system is also expected to transform KBC’s newsroom by re-engineering the editorial processes and setting the pace for convergence.

Multichoice MD, Nancy Matimu, observed that MCK and KBC had a long-held 27-year relationship since the establishment of Multichoice Kenya in the country in 1995 as a joint-venture. Multichoice Holdings Africa owns 60%, while KBC holds the remaining 40% in MCK.

“As a business, we thank you for the partnership that we have both enjoyed over the past 27 years and MultiChoice Kenya fully appreciates and supports your public broadcasting service mandate in Kenya. We appreciate that our business has grown hand-in-hand with the Kenyan economy by forging long-term partnerships with the Kenyan Government, the national broadcaster of which you are and entrepreneurs” she said.

Ferrari, RBR take their battle to ultra-fast Corniche Circuit in Jeddah this weekend

The second round of the 2022 Formula 1 season kicks off this weekend in Jedda, Saudi Arabia, despite the reported rocket attacks near the city from Yemeni fighters. 

Authorities there have reassured the teams and drivers that security will be tightened and that the race should go on as scheduled.

The Jeddah Corniche circuit is one of the fastest on the circuit and will definitely see battles between the Ferrari F75 of Charles Leclerc, which dominated the first race, and the Red Bull RBR18 of Max Verstappen, the defending world champion.

Supersport will carry the entire weekend's activities from the practice rounds, to qualifiers and the main race on Sunday.

The schedule is as below:

Saturday 26 March

18:50: Qualifying – LIVE on SuperSport Grandstand, SuperSport Motorsport and SuperSport Maximo 2

 

Sunday 27 March

18:55: Race – LIVE on SuperSport Grandstand, SuperSport Motorsport and SuperSport Maximo 1

DSTV APP USERS TO GET ALL SPORTS ACCESS ON SUPER WEEKEND

DStv is opening up its premium sports content channels to all its DSTV app users granting them access to EPL, Formula 1 Season opening Bahrain race, La Liga's El Classico, Tennis among other sports, the company said yesterday.

This means that on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 March, customers subscribed to Compact Plus, Compact, Family and Access packages will have unrestricted access to SuperSport channels on the DStv App, including WWE, SuperSport La Liga, SuperSport Football, SuperSport Premier League, SuperSport Golf and SuperSport Tennis amongst others. 

 “In an increasingly mobile environment, rewarding our DStv App customers with some of the best sports content from around the world is part of how we are ensuring that our customers enjoy memorable moments whether at home or on the move. The DStv App gives them an unparalleled viewing experience,” says Nancy Matimu, Managing Director MultiChoice Kenya
The DStv Open App weekend is quite bust:

In the English Premier League, there is Tottenham Hotspur v West Ham United (Sunday at 5PM East African Time) on SuperSport Premier League)

Big ticket, ‘El Clasico’ from La Liga, (Real Madrid take on Barcelona) will take place on Sunday 11 p.m. on SuperSport La Liga).
MotoGP’s second round of the 2022 season, the Grand Prix of Indonesia action will kick of with qualifying (Saturday at 10 a.m. LIVE on SuperSport Motorsport) and the Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP races (Sunday at 07:00 p.m, 08:30 p.m.  and 10:00 p.m. LIVE on SuperSport Motorsport).

The return of Formula 1 is another major highlight this weekend, with qualifying (Saturday at 5:50 EAT LIVE on SuperSport Motorsport) and the race (Sunday at 17:55 EAT LIVE on SuperSport Motorsport) set to kick off the 2022 season under the new regulations and cars.

Cricket fans will be treated to India v Australia from the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup (Saturday at 4 p.m. LIVE on SuperSport Cricket), as well as South Africa’s second ODI against Bangladesh (Sunday at 10:00 a.m. LIVE on SuperSport Cricket), amongst other highlights.

The IAAF Indoor World Championship: Saturday will see Day 2 Morning and Afternoon sessions (11:25 a.m. and 17:30 p.m LIVE on SuperSport Variety 3), while Sunday has Day 3 Morning and Afternoon sessions (11:55 a.m. and 18:35 p.m. LIVE on SuperSport Variety 3).

Golfing will see Days 3 and 4 of the PGA Tour’s Valspar Championship (20:00 EAT LIVE on SuperSport Golf)

Mixed Martial Arts will also feature the UFC Fight Night from London, as Alexander Volkov and Tom Aspinall go to war in the main event (Saturday, prelims at 21:00 EAT and main card at 23:00 EAT  LIVE on SuperSport Action).

The semi-finals and final of the ATP Tour’s BNP Paribas Open leads the tennis coverage (Saturday at 04:00 EAT and 06:00 EAT , as well as Sunday at 23:00 eAT  LIVE on SuperSport Tennis).

NETFLIX TO CHARGE FOR PASSWORD SHARING

Netflix will begin to crack down on users who share their passwords with people who do not live in the same household.

Kenyans with friends or relatives in the US for example also get to use US-based accounts to access content typically not available in the country.

Netflix now wants to charge for that privilege.

An extra charge of about $2.98 is to apply as the streaming site moves to curb the practice of password sharing to non-paying users.

According to Techradar, "The streaming giant is currently testing a pair of new features that, while enabling memberships outside the main account household, will also add a little surcharge.

The "Add an Extra Member" feature allows those on Standard and Premium plans to add "sub accounts" for up to two people living at a different address (think friends, distant relatives, or your student studying at Harvard). For an additional $2.99, these sub members will get their own ID and passwords, profiles, and personalized recommendations."

GOOGLE DOMAINS YET TO BE AVAILABLE IN KENYA

 

Google announced that its domain name service registry, (domains.google) has left Beta phase after being in the test mode since 2015.

It will now be available across different countries but not in Kenya unfortunately.

For about US$18 (KES 2000) you will be able to register your domain with a choice of 300 different endings.

According to ZDNet, the end of the Beta Phase took place yesterday.

Kenya is not among the countries that Domains is available at. According to their domains.google website;

You can only purchase on Google Domains if your billing address is in a supported country. Google Domains is currently available for users in the following countries:

• Australia
• Belgium
• Brazil
• Canada
• France
• Germany
• India
• Indonesia
• Italy
• Japan
• Malaysia
• Mexico
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Philippines
• Poland
• Singapore
• South Africa
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Thailand
• Turkey
• United Kingdom
• United States 
• Vietnam

KENYANS HIT IN SH1.1BN ($10m) CRYPTO PONZI SCHEME

Shocked Kenya crypto "investors" hit Twitter yesterday to complain about their inability to withdraw funds from their crypto wallets in an investment scheme called Bitstream Circle which appears to have shut down after mopping US$10m from majority Kenyans and other African victims of the scam.

The scheme promised returns of 5-10% daily and you had to register with a minimum of $20 (KES2,200) to join the bonanza.

As crypto enthusiast, Kimani Capital, who goes by the telling handle @retireby29 tweeted, he overcame his initial suspicions after following BT for a couple of weeks during which he saw a training video and also learnt that a physical meeting with "Investors" had taken place in Nairobi.

The training video showed investors how to open an account and trade on the platform.

The business model according to him, was:

1. You deposit $20 in their trading exchange

2. You get added to the Telegram Group

3. BT gives trading signals at specific time periods, 5 times a day.

4. Use the signals to trade on the "Exchange".

5. Make guaranteed 5-8% return on investment daily.

Investors were asked to follow instructions on daily trading where they would be issued with specific guidelines and amounts to trade at given times of the day. 

"You had to strictly follow the instructions to the letter," @retireby29 says. "You had to strictly trade at the respective time...so literally I had to set alarms and stop what I was doing during trading time."

He says over 300 Kenyans, and over 500 Africans from 7 different countries were signing up daily to Bitstream. 

Transactions were done using the dollar-backed stablecoin USDT. The cryptocurrency has the same exchange rate to the shilling as the US dollar.

One withdrawal per day was allowed which he says would take 30 minutes to reflect in his Binance account.

Things looked to be going well until one day, 13th March, 2022, investors encountered a hitch withdrawing their funds. They were informed that a system upgrade was underway and would be back online in 5 hours. That is when, @retireby29 says, he knew the gig was up.

But before the curtain call, the scammers could not resist one last caper and anyone who sought customer support was asked to "deposit" 10% of their investment, and they would be able to withdraw all their funds. Needless to say, those funds also disappeared, along with Bitstream Circle, or BT as the investors called it.

It turns out that the basic Ponzi scheme works the same whether in the village or on the net, new gullible people's money pays those who came before them, and so on, until the scheme is saturated.

Folks who had been warned about the suspect fundamentals of the scheme, in typical fashion, bristled and dismissed the party-poopers.

The Central Bank of Kenya in 2016, warned Kenyans against getting into crypto products adding that there is no recourse in law for those who burnt their fingers. Earlier this year, the CBK Governor, Patrick Njoroge reiterated that the regulator had not changed its position regarding crypto products. He however, promised that a broader policy outlook on the crypto space, including but not limited to cryptocurrencies, would be forthcoming in the near to mid-term. 

Kenyans however, have been very active in peer to peer crypto-trading ranking number 1 globally according to Chainalysis. Overall, the country is ranked number 5 in the Global Crypto Adoption Index, behind Vietnam, India, Pakistan, and Ukraine.