DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2018.v06i08.026

Pages: 1678-1684

Many countries across the world have migrated to the television digital platform, not so for some countries in Africa. For the first time multiple channels are available even in areas which had none before, giving the audiences wide choices of selections. In Kenya, four digital distributors have been licensed, and content providers have to decide on which of the four to piggy back its broadcast on. In this evolving transformation, the active audience paradigm seems to have been rejuvenated. The pertinent question therefore is what are the emerging trends in Kenya with this myriad of channels? What is happening in homes, how is television remote control used? In a qualitative study, a group of university students voluntarily accepted to observe how people use the television remote control in their homes for three consecutive days. A focus group discussion was then organized. The emerging trend was that, the remote control has become the center of interest in most homes, and there are times and moments when there are battles over it. The heads of the households feel they have a natural ‘ownership rights’ and have a final say on the channel to be watched whenever there’s competitive interest among the family members. This is more prevalent where the fathers are the head, they take custody of the remote control gadget, and the rest of the family has to go with their taste. There is also an increased amount of binge viewing where few programs are watched to conclusion, the commercials taking a heavy toll. Though the study cannot be generalized to the larger public because of the small number of participants involved, it raises some interesting insights.