Six TV stations non-compliant, owe GNBA over $50M

Six TV stations are currently non-compliant and they collectively owe the Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA) over $50 million, Chairman Leslie Sobers told News Room on Tuesday.

Sobers said that the GNBA is making efforts to get the non-compliant stations off the air.

The GNBA Head declined to name the TV stations that owe the agency, but he disclosed that the broadcasters’ outstanding payments range from $1.7M to $20M.

Apart from these non-compliant broadcasters, Sobers said seven TV stations still owe the GNBA money but they are regarded as “compliant” because they signed agreements to make the payments in monthly installments.

Six TV stations, including Cable Company, E-Networks Inc., are listed as fully compliant, Sobers told News Room.

The GNBA Head warned that moves are afoot to write the non-compliant TV stations ordering them to stop broadcasting. He said failure to comply will result in court actions but he noted that this is not a process that can be rushed.

“That is not something I could rush…we would have to seek legal advice, we have to deal with it strategically because sometimes they might come in and honour their obligations,” Sobers explained.

In addition to the challenges faced in getting local broadcasters to pay their fees in a timely manner, the GNBA Chairman noted that there are other areas where these entities fall short of their compliance.

“These broadcasters are making millions all the years, all the programmes that they taking down from the internet, pirating other people contents and selling it back to the Guyanese nation with no serious overheads and then don’t want to pay and then now we coming against them, they are crying out,” he told News Room.

Sobers said the GNBA is addressing these issues one step at a time; he said the first objective is to get the broadcasters up-to-date with its payments and thereafter, the agency will deal with the other aspects of non-compliance.