–under Broadcasting (Amendment) Bill

NEW classes of broadcasting services and zones were officially introduced along with a new fee structure when the Broadcasting (Amendment) Bill 2017 was read for the first time in the National Assembly after being laid in the House by Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo.
The Bill, which seeks to amend the Broadcasting Act 2011, introduces three classes of broadcasting services namely, commercial, non-commercial and community classes; and three types of broadcasting zones – primary, secondary and tertiary.
The primary zone comprises the municipality of Georgetown, Region Three up to the Essequibo River, all of Region Four and Region Five, east of Region Four, to the Abary River.
Additionally, there are four secondary zones with zone one covering all of Regions One and Two and the Essequibo Islands being part of Region Three.
Secondary Zone Two includes all of Bartica, while Secondary Zone Three covers all of Region Six, including New Amsterdam and part of Region Five, west of New Amsterdam to the Abary River. The fourth and final secondary zone includes all of Region 10.
Meanwhile, the tertiary zones are all of Region Nine including Lethem; all of Region Eight, including Mahdia and Region Seven, excluding Bartica.
Additionally, the Broadcast (Amendment) Bill provides for public service programmes, the prohibition of programmes containing hate speech while simultaneously addressing an international agreement for broadcasting any channel or programme as part of the local service.
Notably, under the proposed legislation, all broadcasting agencies will be mandated to broadcast public service programmes for a total of up to 60 minutes per day between 06:00hrs and 22:00hrs free of cost.
Meanwhile, the new fee structure will allow for lower fees for TV operators. In the primary zone, the base fee has been set at $1.2M for TV and cable operators, while radio operators will continue to pay $2.5M.
In the secondary zone, the fee has been set at $600, 000 or 3.5 per cent of gross revenue of the preceding year, whichever is greater for TV and Cable operators, while radio operators will be $1.25M.
In the tertiary zone, the fee has been set at $300, 000 for TV and cable providers and $625,000 for radio operators.
Meanwhile, Radio and TV stations providing community broadcasting services will be charged a fee of only $150, 000.