NBC halts suspension of indebted stations
The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has temporarily called off the suspension it placed on AIT/Ray Power FM (DAAR Communication Ltd., Silverbird TV Network, and 50 other stations over N2.6 billion debts, which led to the commission revoking their licenses on Aug. 19.
The halt to the suspension was revealed by Malam Balarabe Ilela, the Director-General of NBC, in Abuja. The affected stations are AIT/Ray Power FM (DAAR Communication Ltd., Silverbird TV Network, and 50 other stations.
Following the order from NBC and with immediate compliance, the affected stations had to shut down within 24 hours across the country, which was later extended by the commission to enable all outstanding debts to be paid from 24 hours to Wednesday.
It explained that the extension of the enforcement date was due to an appeal by the affected broadcast stations, relevant stakeholders, public-spirited individuals, and organisations.
However, the NBC boss said following the ultimatum, the commission received positive responses from the debtor licensees, including big players in the broadcast industry.
”Sequel to a follow-up meeting held with Executives of the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON), and other critical Stakeholders in the industry. The commission has decided to temporarily suspend the shutdown of the indebted broadcast stations all over the country. We express our profound appreciation to the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria, the affected licensees, and broadcast Stakeholders for their responses and interventions. We specifically thank DAAR Communications Ltd., and Silverbird TV/Rhythm FM for their responses,” Ilelah said.
He added that the commission was not unaware of the difficulties the shutdown would have caused the operators and other stakeholders. The D-G stated that the commission would always operate within the National Broadcasting Commission Act, Cap. N11, Laws of the Federation, 2004.
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