Local television pioneer Anthony Vieira has sold his station to the Ramroop Group.
The announcement was made last night via a press release from the Ramroop Group, which launched the Guyana Times last year. Vieira had been asked by Stabroek News on Wednesday if it was true that he was selling his business and his reply was “I don’t have to comment on that”.
The release did not indicate the sale price but said that the assets sold include the business office and studio on Quamina Street and the transmission site at Versailles, West Demerara.
Vieira, a PNCR-1G Member of Parliament, was quoted in the press release as saying “I’ve served this country well especially my contributions towards television broadcasting.” Vieira, 64, says he now wants to pursue less stressful enterprises.
In relation to the deal sealed with the Ramroop Group, Vieira was reported in the release as saying “As businessmen we enter into specific business ventures with objectives whilst at the same time, seeking to conclude the best alternative or deal and I believe, having considered all my years of hard work and investments in the television industry, the offer I got for VCT from the Ramroop Group was acceptable given the sad global financial climate and the generally sad state of the local advertising market, there are just too many channels competing for what is essentially a small advertising pie.”
Unnamed officials from the Ramroop group commenting on the sale said that they will bring “new and exciting programmes to Guyanese as they seek to enhance the quality of local television viewing.”
It is unclear if the frequency which had been assigned to VCT can simply be transferred to the Ramroop Group without reversion to the National Frequency Management Unit.
The Ramroop Group was at the centre of controversy last year over the manner of its acquisition from the state of the former Sanata Textiles Mill site for its operations and also as a result of the assigning of concessions by the government not catered for in the law. The law had to be hurriedly amended to facilitate the investment deal. The Guyana Times last month began receiving state advertising – less than a year after being in business – even though this would have contravened the previously announced guidelines by the government.
