By Paul Nyathi|Government has announced that it will soon be unveiling twenty four new state run television stations.

This was said by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Media, Information and Broadcasting Services, George Charamba, during an interview with a local radio station ZiFM Stereo on Monday night.

In relation to the ongoing digitalisation programme, Charamba said they are in the process of acquiring decoders which will enable citizens to access broadcast channels.

“The tender for decoders is just about to be floated. It’ll mean that overnight, we’ll have licences to give out to 12 television licence operators. I hope Zimbabweans are ready for that because it’ll come pretty soon.

“But I’ve also been informed by our engineers that there’s a new technology which could double that capacity. We’ve decided that we’re no longer going to go SD (Standard Definition), because if we go SD, we would’ve had 24 channels in an instant.

“But now, we’re going High Definition (HD) because that’s where the quality is. I’m told there are new technologies that can double that capacity and we might end up having 24 new licences to give out,” said Charamba.

He said as the economy grows, room for more television channels to be absorbed would increase.

“My hope is that as the economy grows then we should be able to accommodate more and more channels.

“I promise the questioner that we’re almost on the verge of a multichannel era from a television point of view. And I hope the entrepreneurs who are eager and waiting for that licensing process are ready,” said Charamba.

The state run broadcaster is currently involved in the process of setting up varied community radio stations throughout the country.

So far three have been set up in Bulawayo, Gweru and Mutare. The radio stations have also adopted the partisan broadcasting done by the national radio stations.

Last year the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe issued twelve community radio station licences which were all awarded to known ZANU PF loyalists.

Couple of years back two national radio licences were also issued with one being given to Minister Supa Mandiwanzira while the other was awarded to the government run Zimpapers.

The government has literally refused to open up the airwaves for opposition political parties to broadcast only running the ZANU PF programmes.