Broadcasters are engaging the government for “relief” in broadcast licence fees due to the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
This disclosure was made yesterday by a recently formed group, the Guyana United Broadcasters (GUB), in wake of the Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA) last week identifying 26 broadcasters who it said had failed to pay their licence fees.
In a brief statement on Saturday, the GUB said its “regrets the publication of a list of non-compliant broadcasters by the Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA) at a time when we are engaging the Government of Guyana concerning relief due to the adverse national impact of the coronavirus, COVID-19, during the past sixteen months”.
On Thursday, the GNBA said it was facing an “arduous” task in collecting broadcast licence fees from the broadcasters named.
Among the list of “financially non-compliant” broadcasters identified by the GNBA were Atlantic Cable Television Inc., Bartica Communication Network Inc, CNS Inc, Linden Wireless Communications Network, National Communications Network Inc, National Media and Broadcasting Company (Kaieteur Radio), HGPTV Inc, News Talk Radio Guyana Inc, and Rambarran Broadcasting Systems Inc.
In a statement, the GNBA advised broadcasters to “make every effort” to be financially compliant with the authority.
“Importantly, be reminded that GNBA is empowered to take action against delinquent broadcasters. We are therefore requesting that the broadcasters listed … honour their obligations at the earliest,” GNBA warned.
According to the statement, over the years the GNBA has incorporated a number of mechanisms to assist broadcasters to become financially compliant. “The Authority has been very patient and lenient,” the statement said.
The statement from the GUB raised questions about the origin of the group. Sunday Stabroek was informed that the GUB was formed a few months ago ahead of engagements with the GNBA on “matters of concerns”.
A source informed this newspaper that the GUB has three committee members; namely, Denis Chabrol, Shameer Ali and Bobby Vieira.
Various broadcasters are part of the group.
