SECTOR 2 A few magazines also exist on the market. These include the quarterly Bride and Groom and Flair Magazine. Flair focuses on women’s issues and women empowerment. Television Access to TV is limited primarily to urban areas due to the unavailability of electricity in most rural areas. Penetration outside the main urban centres is therefore low. According to the Afrobarometer data for the Uganda Round 6 survey conducted in 2015, 44% of urban households and 12% of rural households own a television set. According to the UCC’s 2015 third quarter (Q3) report, there are 28 operational analog TV stations, and 5 operational digital TV stations in Uganda. Panellists suggested that there are 47 registered TV stations in Uganda, but only about 20 of these are operational. These include the nationally available WBS, NTV, NBS, UBC, Star TV, Bukedde 1 and 2, Urban TV, U gospel, UBC magic and UBC 24. The migration to digital has enhanced accessibility to the various stations available, but this has come at a cost of 150,000 shillings (USD45); an unaffordable sacrifice for many Ugandans, as a decoder is needed to access this (Many Ugandans are unaware that this is a once-off fee). Uganda is currently in a dual phase as analog TV is still available, but a complete switchover to digital is expected within the next one and half years. Based on the cost implication for Ugandans, “one election candidate even promised going back to analog,” as one of his campaign promises for the February 2016 election. One of the panellists noted that there is a perception in certain circles that the distribution and or purchase of decoders has been viewed as an issue of corruption, as options cheaper than the 150,000 shilling decoder existed. Other service providers were eager to bring in these options but a commitment was made to only one service provider. “This was a meal ticket for a couple of middlemen.” Pay TV is also an option, but at a starting price of 18,000 Ugandan Shillings (USD 5.40) per month, this is a luxury that is not affordable for the majority of Ugandans. According to the UCC, there were 636,805 Pay TV subscribers in the third quarter (Q3) of 2015. In some rural areas, people will go to TV halls or bars to watch football games broadcast on DSTV. AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER UGANDA 2016 33