The Standard Media Group is facing the risk of losing its operating licenses following a Sh48 million unpaid licensure debt that it owes the Communication Authority (CA). The media house alleges that it has received a letter from the Communications Authority Director General David Mugonyi on the revocation of its licenses.

“In a letter dated April 9, the Communications Authority of Kenya announced the revocation of the licenses, citing non-remittance of license fees and the Universal Service Fund (USF) levy. [CA] also dismissed an existing debt repayment plan of Sh48 million regulatory fees,” the Standard states.

The media house reports that the Communications Authority had issued it with six-month revocation notices in September 2024 which expired on March 24, 2025.

However, the media house claims it has an existing debt repayment plan, in which it deposited Sh10 million in December 2024 followed by Sh4 million in January 2025 and another Sh4 million in February 2025.

“We entered and signed an agreement with the Communications Authority that we will be paying Sh2.5 million a month towards the completion of this debt. We went ahead to increase this amount to Sh4 million a month,” the media house said.

It added that it had moved to the Communications and Multimedia Appeals Tribunal seeking an injunction to stop the publication of the Gazette Notice.

In the letter announcing the revocation of its licenses, the media house said that the CA stated that it will publish a notice on the revocation in the official Kenya Gazette.

“This letter serves to inform you that the Authority is progressing to publish a notification on the revocation of all the broadcast licenses issued to the Standard Group PLC in the Kenya Gazette,” the media house quoted the letter from the CA.

This is the latest financial trouble to pile on the troubled media house. Last week, the company’s former employees issued a notice of protests to the Nairobi Regional Police Commander. The former workers are planning to hold protests in seven days over salary arrears that they say the Standard Media Group has refused to pay them.

In their notice, the former employees told the police that they will hold protests next week from Tuesday, April 15, to Thursday, April 17, 2025. The protests will begin at Airtel offices then proceed to General Motors before heading to the Standard Group offices on Mombasa Road.

The Standard Media Group has been delaying salaries for its employees as it falls deeper into a financial crisis. Some employees have been reported to have gone for as many as 10 months without salaries.

In mid last year, the employees staged a mass walkout from their workstations in protest against months of unpaid salaries.

Ex-Standard Media Group employees to hold protests over salary arrears

“For seven months now, staff at the Standard Media Group, the oldest media house in Kenya, have gone through untold suffering due to unpaid salaries despite hard economic times in the countries,” KUJ Secretary General Eric Oduor had said.

In its latest financials, the media house reported a half year net loss of Sh. 111.6 million. The loss came as the troubled media house’s revenues dipped by 16.8 per cent to Sh. 1.05 billion from the previous half’s Sh. 1.3 billion in the 6-month period.