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No evidence CCTV applied to Broadcast Authority

Feb 15, 2013 News

… Gov’t ‘scrutinizing’ details

As government continues to face questions over the circumstances in which permission was granted to China Central TV (CCTV) to broadcast in Guyana, a senior spokesman yesterday said that the administration is now reviewing the details.
This was after head of the Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA), Bibi Shadick, reportedly revealed that she has no records of the Chinese-owned television station being given permission to operate here.
GNBA was established last year and given powers to consider and grant applications for television and radio licences. It has now asked for current broadcasters and others to submit fresh applications.
With limited space or spectrum of the airwaves available, there has been anger and questions over the timing and appearance of CCTV.
Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon, yesterday, during his weekly post-Cabinet press conference, said he was correcting earlier statements he made regarding the bilateral agreement that was signed during the tenure of former President Bharrat Jagdeo.
He said that a review of the records up to 2004 made mention of the agreement, but its execution date is still being “ascertained”.
It was the government that “committed” to provide a channel for a CCTV signal to be made available to the Guyanese audience.
He also stated that CCTV has similar arrangements in other countries…but did not name them.
Luncheon referred media workers to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Frequency Management Unit (NFMU) for more details.
Explaining the current review, the government official said that there was a time frame for the establishment of the channel and it was this that is being ascertained.
Since starting broadcasting recently on Channel 27/Cable78, there has been a host of criticism from broadcasters and several prominent citizens.
Earlier this week, long-time veteran media practitioner, Kit Nascimento, slammed government over the issue, saying that the floodgates are now open for another government, with whom Guyana has diplomatic, trade and commercial relations, to expect the same privileged right to broadcast on a domestic channel.
In a letter to Kaieteur News, Nascimento pointed out that one of the main reasons Guyana has established broadcasting legislation and an authority to grant a licence and frequency, is that the airwaves (electro-magnetic spectrum) are a finite natural resource for mass communication. It therefore must “be used in a responsible manner to serve the public interest, convenience and necessity”.
He wanted to know how government will be regulating the channel.
Last week, Michael Gordon, acting Chief Executive Officer of the state TV, National Communications Network (NCN), said the setting up of China Central TV (CCTV) was a direct government-to-government agreement between Guyana and China.
The agreement was signed here, between NCN and the Chinese embassy, on December 30, 2011.
Gordon said that NCN did not negotiate any of the arrangements for the setting-up of the television station. He explained that all costs for the setting up of the station were borne by the Chinese government. He said the Chinese government constructed a building and installed its transmitter in the compound of NCN.
Veteran broadcaster Enrico Woolford has been pressing for the NFMU to reveal who has been allocated what frequencies in Guyana, but to no avail.
“The government of Guyana gave China a 24-hour channel on Guyana’s ‘limited electro-magnetic spectrum’ ahead of its own and CARICOM citizens under the CARICOM Single Market and Economy mechanism,” Woolford recently stated. He pointed out that the issuing of licences to a foreign country has to be done with full public knowledge, complete and transparent disclosure, since part of the country’s limited resources is being utilised. Executive Member of the opposition coalition APNU, Lance Carberry, last week said that the government needs to clarify the arrangements under which CCTV is licenced to broadcast from Guyana.
Cathy Hughes, Parliamentarian of the Alliance for Change, said she will be demanding answers in the National Assembly.

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