Frequency interference with CNS Channel 6’s transmitted signal is worsening, co-owner Savitri Singh said yesterday, while saying the TV station is losing business as sponsors are pulling out from programmes until the situation is resolved.
Singh told Stabroek News that viewers are increasingly calling in and complaining of the interference, adding that the company believes that the situation is an attempt to put them out of business because people would not want to advertise with them anymore if they cannot hear their advertisements clearly on air. “In two weeks’ time my business begins to suffer… I find it hard to believe that there is an interference with the frequency and they don’t know,” she said.
Singh also stated that they sent a letter to the CEO of the National Frequency Manage-ment Unit (NFMU) Valmikki Singh on Monday and he informed them that he would address the matter. Efforts to contact Singh for a comment yesterday on the issue were unsuccessful as his secretary stated that he was not in office.
Savitri Singh explained that the interference commenced on November 14 and viewers in areas like Diamond and East Ruimveldt are increasingly complaining that the channel’s signal is being intercepted by a musical sound or the sound of on-air drumming.
A source at the Guyana National Broadcast Authority (GNBA) had told this newspaper that once it could be verified that there is interference at the channel, the GNBA will move to investigate it. “We could go and see what is going on,” the well-placed source said when contacted by this newspaper. “As long as it is verified that there has been interference, the GNBA will work to resolve it,” the person said, pointing out that it is possible that one of the newly-licensed radio stations might be the cause of the interference.
Meanwhile, broadcaster Enrico Woolford in a statement on the matter said
“I repeat my public call for the National Frequency Management Unit of Guyana to publish who is allocated or operating on what frequency in Guyana for public or cable broadcasting.
“The airwaves are a limited public resource and the public needs to know who owns what or who was allocated what.
“The National Frequency Management Unit, like GGMC should have a public register of who has what `claims’ so speak.”
