The first ever privately-owned television station in the country, TV10, has hit the airwaves. The station has been testing its signal for the past three weeks. Rwandans have for long been waiting for an affordable alternative channel to the state-owned television station, Rwanda Television. “It’s time we had new private TV stations…we have been lagging behind other East African countries for a long time,” said Beata Ingabire, a student at the School of Finance and Banking.The station will focus on business, entertainment/culture, sports and news. TV10 is owned by businessman Eugène Nyagahene’s Tele 10 Group, which also launched the first privately-owned radio station, Radio 10 in 2004.It is among the few private TV stations that have been licensed by the Rwanda Utilities Regulation Agency (RURA) under the media liberalisation policy. Others are Lemigo TV, Super TV, Family TV and Contact TV.“We inspected their studios in January and gave them the go ahead,” said Jean Baptiste Mutabazi, the regulator’s head of communications.
