GBC channels are not being given to Asaase TV – Gabby debunks claims

Owner of Asaase Radio, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, has debunked assertions that there is a government-backed plan to transfer the channels of the state-broadcaster, GBC, to an upcoming TV station, Asaase TV.

The stalwart of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) said that assertion, which was first made public by Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, Samuel Nartey George, are unfounded.

“I am hearing it for the first time. First of all, ABC Radio Ltd which owns Asaase Radio has not put in any application for DTT. Because that is really what the issue is and there is no such application,” he clarified on Citi TV’s Face to Face programme which was aired on Tuesday, July 21, 2020.

Sam George, a member of Parliament’s Communications Committee, questioned government’s motive to reduce the channels of state broadcaster GBC on the DTT platform from six to three.

Sam George says the reasons given so far by the Communications Minister Ursula Owusu-Ekuful for the intended move are not convincing.

The Minister, in a letter to GBC, highlighted the need to create redundancy on the DTT platform which she argued is currently operating at full capacity.

However, during a subsequent media engagement, Sam George made the following remark: “Is it because the Asaase media empire wants to get a TV station and they want to take one or more of GBC’s frequencies and give to the Asaase Empire to build an Asaase TV empire? We are asking these questions.”

In a sharp rebuttal on Face to Face, Gabby said: “On matters like these I don’t think Sam George should be the one that we should rely on.”