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By tomorrow, licensed broadcasters across the country will be expected to pay a spectrum fee to the Public Utilities Commission. It's a first time fee being imposed on an industry that already pays an annual broadcasting fee and regular trade license fees.
For that reason, a number of media houses - including this one - have refused to pay because they consider it an arbitrary fee, unilaterally imposed.
It was a proposal that was first published in October of 2020 and is being enforced this year. The fees vary based on the media houses and for Channel 7, it's $1,000 per annum. For other media houses - especially radio stations, it's a whole lot more.
But the media was never consulted, and the new regulations were just dropped without any explanation of the breakdown of the fees.
Today we asked the PM, who doubles as the Minister responsible for the PUC and broadcasting, about it and he says that, unlike the independent media personnel, he isn't making a big deal about it.
John Briceno, Prime Minister
"Well I guess we will also have to pay it, as you know I am the owner of a radio station and TV station but you don't see me getting a heart attack like a certain member in the media just over that. It's a matter of talking. I'm sure you could meet with the PUC, I don't know if there were any kind of consultations but I think it was something that was agreed to and approved from 2019, from before the PUP government so I think then that individual supposed to go and rail up with Dean Barrow and the UDP people back then, don't rail up with us, we're just implementing what has already been approved. But again, I'm sure that the people on the PUC, they could call them in and say, let's hear you out and decide what would be in the best interest."
To our knowledge, this is the first time the PM has self identified as the owner of Centaur's media entities. Usually, it is decreased as a "family business".
