A number of broadcasters remain indebted to the Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA), with one owing approximately $20 million, according to Board Chairman Leslie Sobers, who is confident that all the outstanding monies will be recouped.
“We are going to settle them [the matters] bit by bit,” he said during an interview with Stabroek News. While Sobers could not remember the exact sum owed, he said one broadcaster alone owed about $20 million.
Earlier this year, GNBA published an ad in which it had asked 12 broadcasters, including the state-owned National Communications Network (NCN), to make urgent contact because they failed to stick to the agreement on how they will pay over $100 million owed for broadcast rights.
The other broadcasters on the list published on April 12, in the state-owned Guyana Chronicle, comprised Go-Tech/ Iramco Guyana Limited, Infinity Telecommunications Inc, E3 Communications, Bartica Communications Network Inc, Linden Wireless Telecommunications Network, Ang Inc, WRHM Inc, Tarzie Transmission Service, Rambarran Broadcasting Systems, Countrywide Broadcasting Inc, and CNS Inc.
During the interview with this newspaper, Sobers said that the Authority is making good progress as some of the errant broadcasters are coming in with their fees . “There is still some backlog and some procrastination with some but we have legal services at our disposal,” he stressed.
He did not identify those who still owe.
Sobers made it clear that there will be no amnesty as the aim is to recover all the money owed. He informed that some broadcasters listed in that ad have presented themselves to the Authority and payment plans were worked out. “Our objective is not to kill the market but to improve the market and we want people to come to Guyana and put on the radio and enjoy quality broadcasting, quality information about Guyana,” he stressed.
Earlier in the year, the Board met with operators about their arrears. They agreed to pay 50 percent of the arrears during the first quarter and the remainder in the ensuing months. However, only 13 broadcasters complied with what was agreed, while the others did not. This is what prompted the publication of the ad.
In an interview with this newspaper a day after the ad had appeared, Sobers had described the response as “heartening”.
NCN and CNS Inc. subsequently said that they had met all its financial obligations with the entity.
The GNBA, according to its website, is the regulatory body responsible for overseeing all television, cable and radio broadcasters in the Co-operative Republic of Guyana. The GNBA was established on 28th August, 2012, subsequent to the development of the 2011 Broadcasting Act. Prior to the establishment of the GNBA, the Advisory Committee on Broadcasting (ACB) came into existence following a dialogue between former President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo and the late Desmond Hoyte, where a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the two parties, which formalized the ACB to serve in an advisory capacity to the Minister of Information from November of 2002 to the establishment of the Broadcasting Act of 2011. The website stated that consequently, the GNBA now stands as the governing entity with the authority to administer all functions as stipulated under the 2011 Broadcasting Act and all other related broadcasting regulations.
Aside from Sobers, Joel Edmond, Dr. Rovin Deodat, Aretha Nicola Campbell, Jocelyne Josiah, Scheherazade Ishoof – Khan, Bibi Shadick and Ex-Officio Member, Valmikki Singh, sit on the Board.
