The Ministry of Communications has doctored a gazetted document to sneak in a conditional clause restricting free-to-air television broadcasting in the country, the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA) has alleged.
It said though the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) made Conditional Access System (CAS) non-mandatory for Free-To-Air TV receivers, the Ministry of Communication in cohort with some private persons have clandestinely doctored the document to make the CAS mandatory.
Under the doctored clause, Ghanaian households will mandatorily have to acquire a special decoder with proprietary software by a private person before they could watch any Free-to-Air television programme in Ghana.
“The special decoder shall be controlled by Conditional Access software and Middleware applications to be provided by a foreign company called VERIMATRIX, solely selected by the MoC as their partner,” GIBA alleged in a statement Tuesday.
“They have also been given the mandate to trade in broadcasting services, without authorization by the NCA as required,” it added.
Click here to read the full exposé by GIBA
By 3news.com|Ghana