SECTOR 3 Besides advertising, slots on state radio and television can be purchased for “public service” announcements. However, material for both advertising and public service announcements is vetted before being broadcast, and it is unlikely that opposition parties can buy airtime in this way. Seeing that the government is one of the country’s main advertisers, panellists felt that there was not much commercial interference in the state broadcaster’s editorial line. Having said this, some panellists said that producers or presenters sometimes took bribes in return for including information about private companies in their programmes. Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country meets only a few aspects of indicator 3 Country meets some aspects of indicator 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator Average score: 1.8 (2008 = n/a; 2006 = n/a) 3.8 The state/public broadcaster is technically accessible in the entire country. Although state television can, in theory, still be received via a conventional analogue aerial and television set, in practice it is accessible only to those who subscribe to DSTV ’s digital satellite service, panellists said. Analogue broadcasting is supposed to continue until 2013, according to Lesotho’s ‘Digital Broadcasting Migration Strategy’. The cheapest DSTV subscription, which includes Lesotho TV, cost M220 a year, while installation costs M600 (this includes the satellite dish) at the time of the AMB dialogue. It was envisaged that from November 2010, state radio should “technically” be accessible all over the country, although there are pockets countrywide where broadcast signals still do not reach on account of the mountainous terrain. Having said this, South African broadcasters were more widely accessible than Lesotho’s own radio stations. 46 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER LESOTHO 2010