NMC ‘Blocks’ Cutting Down of GBC, Crystal TV Channels

The National Media Commission says the Communications Ministry has no ‘power’ to reduce the number of channels the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) and Crystal TV on Ghana’s Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) platform.

According to the NMC, the move by the Communications Ministry is outside its remits and a usurpation of the Commission’s powers.

The NMC said the constitution has given it the mandate to “ promote and ensure the freedom and independence of the media for mass communication or information” and also “insulate the state-owned media from governmental control.”

A statement from the NMC dated July 22 emphasised that any development that seeks to deprive the media of its use of resources legally allocated to them compromises their capacity to serve the country.

Therefore, the Commission has determined that “the directive given to GBC and Crystal TV by the Minister for Communications purports to usurp the constitutional mandate and authority of the National Media Commission and same cannot be obliged under our current constitutional dispensation.”

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The Minister for Communication, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful in a June 26 letter directed GBC to reduce its channels from six to three.

She, in a separate letter, ordered Crystal TV to also limit its three channels on the DTT platform.

The Minister gave both media houses 60 days to comply with the directive.

However in response, the NMC says the order by the Communication Ministry cannot materialize.

The commission explained that its mandate “to insulate the state-owned media, therefore, enjoins the Commission to protect the Board, Management and staff of GBC from political interference as well as safeguard and preserve the entirety of state-owned media facilities, assets and other resources from governmental control.”

Read full statement form NMC below