Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, Sam Nartey George, has said it will not be ideal for the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) to impose a levy on Ghanaians since it is no more a public service broadcaster.

According to him, since GBC is now a commercial media organization competing with private media houses for sponsorship, it cannot continue to levy Ghanaians to pay licence fee.

His comments come on the back of the establishment of a special TV Licence Court to deal with TV licence fee defaulters.

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The setting up of the new courts follows a request made by the Director-General of Ghana Broadcasting Cooperation (GBC), Dr Kwame Akuffo Anoff-Ntow in November this year to the Judiciary.

But commenting on the issue on Accra-based Starr FM on Wednesday, Mr Sam Nartey George said: “Today, nobody in this country who understands the industry can call GBC a public broadcaster, they are a commercial broadcaster like every other radio and TV station.”

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“The public service content on GBC is carried on almost all the major private commercial broadcasters in this country. This whole TV licensing thing is being hinged on the public service that GBC offers, but I am saying that the GBC is not a public service broadcaster.

“If you look at public service broadcasters across the world, they do not give anything commercial so the GBC is no longer a public service broadcaster, it is a commercial entity that is seeking to come under the guise of public service broadcaster to impose a levy that it should not be imposing on people,” he added.

Per the TV licence regulation, dealers in television sets will pay GH¢5 per month, while commercial license users will pay GH¢3 per month for a television set. The payment will double based on the number of devices.