Kenyan TV producers Grace Kahaki and Philippe Bresson have won a breach of contract case against Standard Group PLC over unpaid licence fees for two television programmes.
The judgment, delivered on August 13, 2026, followed a dispute between Standard Group, the parent company of KTN, and Ivory Media Limited, a subsidiary of Insignia Productions associated with Kahaki and Bresson.
The dispute centred on the licensing and broadcast of Junior and My Two Wives, two programmes Ivory Media supplied to Standard Group under separate agreements.
Senior Principal Magistrate A. Nyoike found that Ivory Media had proved its claim and ordered Standard Group to pay Sh13,525,320, together with interest at court rates from the date the suit was filed until payment in full. The broadcaster was also ordered to meet the costs of the suit.
Ivory Media filed the suit in April 2023, after attempts to resolve the payment dispute through negotiations failed.
The relationship between the two companies began earlier. They signed a Programme Licence Agreement for Junior on October 10, 2020, before entering into a second agreement for My Two Wives on January 1, 2021.
Under the agreements, Ivory Media had to deliver four episodes of each programme every month, alongside supporting material including taglines, synopses, titles and high-resolution promotional photographs.
Standard Group agreed to pay Sh170,000 per episode inclusive of VAT for Junior, which was licensed for 52 weeks. For My Two Wives, the agreed rate stood at KSh168,000 per episode plus VAT, with the programme licensed for 26 weeks. The licence fees were payable quarterly within 90 days of receiving the relevant invoices.
Ivory Media told the court that it fulfilled its contractual obligations and that Standard Group aired the programmes during the agreed periods.
However, the production company said the broadcaster failed to settle the full licence fees.
The two sides continued discussions between 2021 and 2022, with Standard Group’s finance department engaging Ivory Media over the outstanding balance and proposing different payment arrangements.
The negotiations also resulted in partial payments, but the debt remained unsettled.
When the matter reached court, Standard Group denied the claim and argued that it was a “stranger” to the Programme Licence Agreements.
The defence became a central issue in the proceedings because Ivory Media produced copies of the agreements bearing the stamps of both companies.
The documents were signed by Philippe Bresson, identified as Ivory Media’s director, and Orlando Lyomu, identified in the agreements as Standard Group’s Group CEO.
The court also considered correspondence from Standard Group’s finance and accounts departments.
Emails exchanged between July 2021 and May 2022 acknowledged an outstanding balance, discussed payment plans and recorded payments made to Ivory Media.
One of the payments cited in the judgment was Sh897,439.51, remitted by Standard Group on July 23, 2021.
The magistrate said the broadcaster’s conduct was inconsistent with its argument that it had no contractual relationship with Ivory Media.
“It is inconceivable that a company would negotiate a payment plan, reconcile a statement of account, and make part-payments running into millions of shillings in respect of an agreement to which it claims to be a stranger.”
The court further relied on an internal reconciliation prepared by Standard Group’s legal officer, Beatrice Mumbi.
The reconciliation calculated an expected balance of Sh13,525,319.84, almost exactly matching the Sh13,525,320 Ivory Media had claimed.
The court treated the correspondence and the company’s subsequent conduct as evidence supporting the existence of the contractual relationship and the outstanding debt.
Ivory Media had also asked the court to award general damages, arguing that the delayed payments affected its ability to meet its financial obligations to suppliers and cast members.
The court declined to grant the additional damages.
Instead, Nyoike held that interest on the unpaid principal was sufficient compensation for the delay in payment.
The judgment therefore awarded the production company the Sh13.525 million principal sum, interest at court rates from the date the suit was filed until payment in full, and the costs of the case, rising to Sh20,202,864
