BAZ to license community TV stations
THE Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) is set to start licensing community television stations following the successful licensing of community radio stations that have contributed to improving universal access to information across the country.
This came out yesterday during a mandatory meeting of the BAZ board with Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister, Monica Mutsvangwa, in Harare.
The meeting aimed to discuss issues of progression of mandate, performance and challenges to ensure BAZ is operating in line with the Government policy.
BAZ chairman Mr Charles Manzi Sibanda said the plan to license community TV stations was part of the Authority’s strategic plan which had been constructed in line with the Ministry’s strategy.
He said out of the 14 Community Radio Stations that were licensed across the country, only four had started broadcasting.
“As your board, we continue to capacitate through training the licensed community radio stations to enable them to come on air and become sustainable going forward. In the near future, the Authority anticipates that Chimanimani Community radio station, Ndau Community Radio Station, in Chipinge, would also be officially opened,” said Mr Sibanda.
“Thereafter, the focus would be on assisting Twasumpuka Community Radio covering Binga and surrounding areas to ensure that they also go on air. “
“The next important aspect would be that of finding ways to accommodate Community Television on which we will submit a paper, after finding ways of licensing them.”
Mr Sibanda said the BAZ continued to play an oversight role to ensure those who had received licenses comply with the conditions of their licenses.