First, media houses rely on advertisements from corporates and FCMGs as their source of revenue; the companies as indicated in the variables monitored above had increased opportunities that enabled new business. Coupled with increased consumer demand, this translated into continued placement (or in some cases new) adverts and other sponsored programmes which revitalised media houses in terms of revenue generation. Second, most of the inputs used by media houses (such as broadcast equipment, entertainment programmes, and newsprint) are imported. The cost of most inputs depends on exchange and inflation rates, among other factors. As such, in the quarter under review, media houses possibly incurred lower costs of doing business in view of the currency appreciation and reduction in the inflation rates. They could have, thus, made capital investments, especially that market interest rates equally posted a marginal reduction. Third, there was no electricity load-management in the quarter under review. As compared to previous quarters, the stable electricity supply helped to reduce the cost of doing business for media houses that previously relied on alternative standby energy sources like generators and solar power to support most of the equipment (such as print presses, transmitters and studio control units). However, on a negative note, towards the end of the quarter in December, government removed subsidies on fuel in a bid to migrate to cost reflective tariffs. This resulted in the upward adjustment of fuel prices by the Energy Regulation Board as itemised in the table below: PRODUCT OLD PRICE (K) NEW PRICE (K)1 % INCREASE Petrol 17.62 21.16 20 Diesel 15.59 20.151 29 The ERB further announced a migration to monthly adjustment of fuel pump prices in order to be more responsive to prevailing conditions on the international market. The increase in fuel pump prices during the quarter affected the operational costs incurred by media houses because media rely heavily on vehicle transportation between locations which are usually far apart. Media houses also employ the use of (fuel driven) generators as standby sources for equipment such as transmitters. As such, an increase in the cost of fuel meant increased cost of operation in this regard. Further, the Board’s migration to a monthly adjustment of pump prices may 27