News / National
Zimbabwe to amend broadcasting law
02 Apr 2012 at 05:10hrs | Views
The Government is working on amending the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA) to include provisions that compel local television stations to support indigenous film productions, a senior official has said.
The measures are being taken ahead of an anticipated influx of players in the electronic media after the completion of the ongoing digitalisation of broadcasting services.
Addressing a consultative workshop for Government and local film-makers at the Zimbabwe Film and Television School of Southern Africa in Harare yesterday, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Media, Information and Publicity, George Charamba, said television stations would be obliged to channel a percentage of the money they use to import programmes to support local producers in line with the proposed amendments.
"We are working on a new amendment to the Broadcasting Services Act which allows the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe Board to collect 10 percent of the money used to import programmes and channel it towards supporting local productions."
Charamba said the ongoing digitalisation of the country's broadcasting system is set to stimulate the entry of more players into the industry. He said his ministry allocated over half of its national budget allotment to Transmedia, the company charged with implementing the digitalisation programme.
"Out of a US$5 million budget, the ministry received this term, Transmedia got over US$3 million. We will soon move from having a crisis of scarcity to having a crisis of abundance. We took a decision in the ministry to prioritise the digitalisation programme this year.
When we digitalise, there will be an explosion of television stations and then our problem will transform into one of having too many stations. After digitalisation one television frequency will have the capacity to host between 19 and 21 different stations."
The measures are being taken ahead of an anticipated influx of players in the electronic media after the completion of the ongoing digitalisation of broadcasting services.
Addressing a consultative workshop for Government and local film-makers at the Zimbabwe Film and Television School of Southern Africa in Harare yesterday, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Media, Information and Publicity, George Charamba, said television stations would be obliged to channel a percentage of the money they use to import programmes to support local producers in line with the proposed amendments.
"We are working on a new amendment to the Broadcasting Services Act which allows the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe Board to collect 10 percent of the money used to import programmes and channel it towards supporting local productions."
Charamba said the ongoing digitalisation of the country's broadcasting system is set to stimulate the entry of more players into the industry. He said his ministry allocated over half of its national budget allotment to Transmedia, the company charged with implementing the digitalisation programme.
"Out of a US$5 million budget, the ministry received this term, Transmedia got over US$3 million. We will soon move from having a crisis of scarcity to having a crisis of abundance. We took a decision in the ministry to prioritise the digitalisation programme this year.
When we digitalise, there will be an explosion of television stations and then our problem will transform into one of having too many stations. After digitalisation one television frequency will have the capacity to host between 19 and 21 different stations."
Source - sundaymail
