Legislators want report on Nation TV status

Mar 03, 2007

THE government should produce a technical report on the 150m television mast on Kololo Hill in Kampala, which hosts the Nation TV (NTV) Uganda antennae and receivers, MPs have said.

By John Odyek

THE government should produce a technical report on the 150m television mast on Kololo Hill in Kampala, which hosts the Nation TV (NTV) Uganda antennae and receivers, MPs have said.

The parliamentary committee on foreign and presidential affairs on Thursday visited the hill to examine the mast owned by Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC). It is rented at a monthly fee of US$3,000 per broadcaster.

The Broadcasting Council directed UBC to stop transmission of NTV signals on the grounds that they had not complied with technical standards. It also claimed the NTV antennae and receivers were weighing down the mast and increasing the wind load.

The committee, chaired by Mary Karooro Okurut, launched a probe into the matter. Karooro said the ministry of works and the broadcasting body should produce a report on the mast. “This should not delay,” she said.

Musinguzi Mugasa, the managing director of UBC, explained that they were repairing the mast.

But MPs Rose Akol Okullo, Louis Opange and Margaret Muhanga asked whether NTV had received permission to install their antenna and receivers on the mast.
They were puzzled by the switching off of NTV alone and not other TV or radio stations.

Henry Banyenzaki told the committee said he was dissatisfied with the way the Government was handling the issue. He said NTV could not be licensed and then suddenly put off.

The station manager, Victor Ngei, said they had paid US$35,000 to buy an idle TV licence from Gentech Ltd. This was because issuing of licences to new TV stations had been put on hold. “I don’t know why NTV has been closed. If the issue is technical, we are ready to correct it.”

Godfrey Mutabazi, the chairman of the Broadcasting Council, said the council had issued NTV a provisional license for one year.

He said in that period, NTV was expected to invite the council to inspect its equipment and meet all requirements in order to get a full license, but NTV had not invited them.

He added that they made a decision to apply standards in the industry although in the past they were not followed.

Mutabazi also explained that the laws governing the broadcasting industry were enacted at a slower pace than the liberalisation of the industry.

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