Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo yesterday declared that government was ready for nationwide competition in radio and television.
“I urged them (the Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA) Board) to give out licences to people who would have applied for radio and television licences,” Nagamootoo said at the commissioning of NCN’s satellite earth station multimedia teleport.
Chairman of the GNBA Lenno Craig later told Stabroek News that while the board has not made a decision, if it were up to him he would be happy to see the licences distributed within six to eight weeks.
“The board has not yet made a decision on the applications for new licensees but if it were left up to me I would be happy if it could be done in six to eight weeks. I will personally take responsibility to pressure the Board into making such decisions,” he said.
Craig explained that currently there are at least 25 applications waiting to be processed.
Shortly before the 2011 general elections, former President Bharrat Jagdeo distributed a number of radio licences and broadcasting frequencies to mainly friends and supporters of the PPP/C. One of these licences went to former Minister of Natural Resources, Robert Persaud and several relatives, who have since sold their interests to a Trinidadian media group.
Many groups and persons had denounced the awards, citing the absence of any clear objective criteria in making them as well as the disregard for applications from established media entities like Stabroek News and Kaieteur News. Broadcaster Enrico Woolford had filed a lawsuit to quash Jagdeo’s decision, arguing that it was unconstitutional. There have been other calls for the licences to be revoked.
Nagamootoo yesterday said that the licensing system needed reviewing to bring to the nation a clean system and level operating field for all.
“Where licenses had been given out to those who never held a camera in their hand, where licences were given out to broadcast to those who had no track record in broadcasting and where we have not love and unity but the putrid air and scent of hate and division and rancor, we can correct that; not by shutting down those who have been wrongly given licences but opening the airways and allowing the window of fresh air to touch our broadcasting in Guyana. Not that we may not shut down or we should not. I am not saying that. It is not my job. That is for the broadcasting authority to do but I am just saying that I would rather see more stations come on board, more people who have the wherewithal, should have the opportunity to do so via community stations or national reach, providing they pay the fees according to the zone in which they belong,” he added.
The Prime Minister told management of NCN to be aware that the entity does not enjoy a monopoly on satellite relaying of its radio and TV signals across the country although it has now taken over relaying the content of The Learning Channel from the Ramroop Group. As such, the PM urged them to put mechanisms in place to keep improving their product.
“There will be competition, so do not think NCN will have monopoly on this service because a broadcaster may very well come with a competitive edge and provide the same type of signal at a cheaper cost and perhaps better technology than we have here today,” he stated.
He said that while he understands that NCN is the national broadcaster, persons in Berbice have complained that their signals are not good and programmes cannot be seen clearly.
“I feel stupid wearing a suit in this hot, sunny weather and snow falls on the NCN television screens in Berbice. That is another problem we have to solve. The people told me they are not seeing NCN properly. All they are seeing is snowflakes and we have to fix that. All of this money spent on a teleport, and we are still paying, while we used to pay a private broadcaster ($3.6m) a month. We still pay almost the same amount to have the service provided though the satellite and now it is ours, therefore, we will make sure we get the service we paid for…therefore, we will go to the max and ensure we get not 50% but 100% strength,” he declared.
