BROADCASTING SERVICES ACT TO BE AMENDED

Tanaka Nyambo

THE Government is working on amending the Broadcasting Services Act to allow foreign investors.

This comes after the realisation that the country had been overtaken by other countries in Africa in this sector.

Deputy Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Kindness Paradza, said:

“Radio was introduced in 1933 and we were the first in Sub Sahara to have it.

“We were just behind Nigeria and Egypt, but ahead of other countries, including South Africa.

“But, we were overtaken by those countries in the region and were way behind until 2017.

“Countries like Malawi were ahead of us, but now we are catching up.”

He added:

“To complete our media reforms, we are amending the Broadcasting Services Act.

“The amendments are already in place, and the new parliament will deal with them.

“We have allowed foreign investors to come in and invest in our broadcasting sector.

“The threshold within the region is 20 percent, but we will double it here.

“We will allow foreigners 40 percent shareholding in our broadcasting sector.

“We are also going to allow them to have 40 percent in terms of directorship.”