Breaking up the monopoly on radio and television frequencies seemed a distant prospect until the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission received royal endorsement early last month.
The regulatory body started out by not renewing contracts for the operators of nine frequencies _ FM106.5, FM98.5, AM1035, AM1089, FM102, FM99, AM1089, FM89 and AM765.
When the contracts end on Dec 31 this year, 1 Por Nor station, which owns the frequencies, will return them to the NBTC for redistribution for public and private use.
As soon as the NBTC passed the resolution, Green Wave, which is broadcast on FM106.5, cried foul and launched a campaign questioning the NBTC's move.
Green Wave, run by GMM Grammy's subsidiary A-Time Media, a major player in the music and entertainment industry, pleaded for audience sympathy and tried to stir up sentiment that their "beloved" radio station was soon to become history.
They popped a number of questions: what did they do wrong, did their station not serve the public good, and why other programmers that offered nothing but rubbish or political divisiveness were allowed to stay on?
In short, why were they among the first to go when others were spared, pending the NBTC's master plan on frequency management, which is unlikely to be put in effect before 2013?
The NBTC has clarified why it singled out the nine frequencies for takeover without waiting for its completion of the frequency management master plan.
The commission cannot risk being accused of being engaged in a conflict of interest.
The rights of the nine radio frequencies were owned by the now-defunct Post and Telegraph Department before they were transferred to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) in 2004.
When the NBTC was formed to replace the NTC, it inherited the frequencies.
However, Green Wave's campaign must have created some uneasiness for the NBTC, whose members were heard speculating on the kind of pressure the agency would face when it was time to reclaim television frequencies.
With this in mind, the NBTC's broadcasting committee has proposed a six-month grace period for those operators with concession rights for the nine frequencies so that they have sufficient time to find a new frequency for their businesses. The proposed extension will be considered by the NBTC today.
The grace period is deemed a reasonable move in a complicated situation.
This is because during the transition period _ before the frequencies are put up for auction _ the frequencies must be for public use only.
The six-month grace period will allow the NBTC's broadcasting panel time to work out the qualifications of the producers and the contents of the programmer for the remaining short operating period before the frequency management master plan is completed.
Once the frequency master plan is in place, all the broadcast frequencies must be returned and reallocated for private and public use through auctions.
The NBTC's decision not to renew the contracts should not be seen as an attempt to keep the current operators out, as they are not stripped of any right to enter further bids.
Instead it should be considered a bold step in the frequency management _ to open up the broadcast media and take out the deep-rooted system of concession granted on a privileged patronage relationship basis at the state's expense.
Moreover, the NBTC's handling of its own frequencies will show if the agency will fulfill its task of turning frequencies into national assets and fairly allocate them for public benefit.
No comments:
Post a Comment