HEAD of the Presidential Secretariat and Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon, at his post-Cabinet press conference at the Office of the President, Thursday, indicated that licenced broadcasting service providers must be licenced under the new Act that came into force on August 28, 2012. “The deadline for licenced broadcast service providers to apply to continue broadcasting to the national broadcasting authority expires today (Thursday)…the law is explicit about this consideration,” Dr. Luncheon said.
He added that the political opposition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) has continued their efforts to denigrate the governing board, its membership and provisions of the Act.
“The recent anti-Act diatribe is being made in the fact of the leader of the opposition’s nomination of an APNU member, Mr. Sherwood Lowe, to the governing board…APNU’s decision to seek to amend the broadcasting law is public knowledge and equally known is what APNU intends to achieve in the quest to amend the act,” Dr. Luncheon explained.
He further said that the reality facing APNU, however, is the existence of modern broadcasting legislation which today governs the sector, therefore, nothing else really matters at this time.
Broadcasters who fail to comply with the provision under this new piece of legislation can be subjected to a fine with imprisonment, along with the forfeiture of assets, as laid out in the laws.
The National Broadcast Authority Board is chaired by former Human Services Minister and Attorney-at-Law, Bibi Shaddick and will include Margo Boyce, Gerald Gouveia, Major General Rtd. Norman McLean, Dr. Dindyal Permaul, Sherwood Lowe (nominee of the Opposition Leader) and Charles Ramson Jr.
The governing board is statutorily tasked with licencing in the broadcast sector and ensuring compliance among broadcasters with the provisions of the Broadcast Act. (GINA)