Broadcasters now hustling to break down $125M debt

Sep 11, 2017 News

– GNBA

The Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA) has indicated that several broadcasters are now making the effort to pay their individual sums of money owed to which collectively amount to about $125M.
GNBA Board Chairman, Leslie Sobers wrote Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo on Friday to give an update of developments over at GNBA.
Sobers reported that the Authority has been holding discussions with several broadcasters. He said that there has been positive feedback about the recently passed Broadcast (Amendment) Bill of 2017 and that no broadcaster has “expressed any disagreement with the 60 minutes time allocation for PSA (Public Service Announcements)”.
Sobers’ letter stated that “The GNBA fully supports the Amendments as passed by the National Assembly in August 2017” and that the Board “has formally tabled a motion” to communicate same to the Prime Minister.
The GNBA updated Prime Minister Nagamootoo that meetings with broadcasters will continue and that the number of compliant broadcasters has doubled from six to 12.
Prime Minister Nagamootoo expressed satisfaction that broadcasters were being pro-active in seeking to clear their arrears as of December 2016 in an effort to ensure that they are in a state of compliance in preparation for possible licensing in 2017.
The Broadcast (Amendment) Bill 2017 was passed in the National Assembly and is awaiting the assent of His Excellency, President David Granger.
When the Bill was tabled several non-governmental organizations and the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) expressed dissatisfaction with its content.

Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo

GNBA Board Chairman, Leslie Sobers

Nagamootoo later wrote a missive seeking to clarify some “misconceptions”.
In that piece he spoke specifically to the amount of money that broadcasters owe GNBA.
Nagamootoo said that under a Schedule of the existing 2011 Act, all operators were required to pay a flat fee of $2,500,000 for a broadcasting licence, whether the agency has nationwide reach or is confined to a specified and limited location. He said that the imposition by the former Government of an across-the-board $2.5 million fee, resulted in most licensees not paying the fees, and they have voluntarily become unlicensed, some since 2012.
The Prime Minister said that reports indicate that broadcasters owe an estimated $125M to the GNBA; and only eight of them are in conformity with licensing requirements under law.
He said, “But the AMENDMENT relieves operators from what I had described in the National Assembly as “the kleptocratic obsession” of the former government to levy heavy fees. The Amendment substitutes a new Table of Fees that, except for a license to operate radio in the primary (populated) zone, significantly reduces the fees.”
The new Fee for television in the primary zone is slashed to $1,200,000. The licence fees for secondary and tertiary zones are $600,000 and $300,000 respectively. These fees are also applicable to cable. A community radio licence fee is only $150,000.

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