Citizen TV, NTV and Inooro TV stations abruptly went off air for about 15 minutes during prime time bulleting on Sunday, August 2.
The affected programmes were Sunday Live hosted by Jeff Koinange and Victoria Rubadiri on Citizen TV, Kiririmbi on Inooro TV and NTV Weekend Edition by Mark Masai.
Speaking exclusively to Kenyans.co.ke, a manager at Royal Media Services confirmed that the three stations suffered a technical hitch on a transmission line they share.
The glitch, which emanated from the satellite station in Nakuru, affected ADN decoder users among other channels.
"It was just a technical failure. We share some facilities at Limuru. There is a transmitting station in Limuru. That might affect because it comes from ADN TV.
"We share some satellite facilities but it was restored," stated the source.
Viewers, who were affected by the sudden disappearance, reported that the glitch affected a wide array of service providers including Signet, ADN as well as some channels on GOtv.
"All local TV stations have disappeared on GOtv and Signet. You can not watch Citizen TV, NTV," lamented Carol Kim.
"Looks like ADN, which hosts NTV and Citizen TV has gone off air. Both stations appear to be off on Signet as well," noted John Ihiga.
In terms of lost revenue, our source confirmed that the stations had found a way to deliver value to advertisers through ad reruns.
In 2018, Citizen TV and NTV also suffered the same predicament after they were cut off air while airing proceedings at Uhuru Park where the then National Super Alliance (NASA) presidential candidate Raila Odinga's swearing-in was scheduled to take place.
The incident occurred after the Kenya Editors’ Guild (KEG) revealed that Jubilee Party had threatened to cut off signals from the two stations.
