Communications Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has cautioned that TV signals may face disruption in the coming year if broadcasters fail to meet their financial obligations.
According to the minister, this has become necessary because some broadcasters have failed to pay for the usage of the Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) platform.
The minister, who doubles as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Ablekuma West Constituency, emphasized the importance of broadcasters paying for the use of the airwaves to ensure the sustainability of the broadcasting industry.
Addressing the Parliament floor on Monday, December 11, 2023, Owusu-Ekuful emphasized that the government, which has hitherto covered the operating costs of the platform, is no longer willing to shoulder the financial burden. Despite multiple notifications, some media houses have been reluctant to meet their payment obligations, she noted.
“As I speak, none of the broadcasters on the DTT platform pay for using it and this situation cannot continue in continue in our current economic state. Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA) is not a broadcaster hosted on this platform. So I don’t know in which capacity they would be acting. They have members who are broadcasters on the DTT platform but none of them have paid a pesewa today for being hosted on the platform,” she said.
She continued by asserting that, “Government says it cannot continue to pay for it, so if they do not pay for it, unfortunately, we may find ourselves in a situation where we cannot receive TV broadcast signals because the platform will be shut down for non-payment of the operational expenses that it is incurring.”
