NCA commissions new Broadcasting Monitoring Centre to protect consumers

The National Communications Authority (NCA) on Tuesday, November 29, officially commissioned an ultra-modern Broadcasting Monitoring Centre (BMC) at its head office at Airport Area, Accra.

The main purpose of this initiative is to protect consumers of broadcasting services. This is in accordance with Section 5C of the NCA Act 769 which states that the protection of the interests of consumers or users of communications networks or communications services and in particular to the interests of consumers' choice, quality of service and value for money.

Over the years, the NCA has gradually scaled to meet the demands of its mandate through the use of various Broadcasting Monitoring Systems (BMS).

However, in 2021, there was widespread public concern about the negative repercussions of the ritualist contents of television stations that entertained spiritualists as well as charlatanic advertisements which mislead a large section of the public.

There were calls on the regulatory institutions with oversight over the electronic media, i.e. the National Media Commission (NMC) and the NCA, to take appropriate action to deal with the issues.

As a result, the NCA and the NMC signed a Memorandum of Cooperation on June 15, 2021, to regulate Broadcast Content in line with the provisions of Section 3(c) of the NCA Act of 2008, Act 769.

At the public signing of this Memorandum, the Honourable Minister of Information encouraged both institutions to give practical effect to the commitments in the Agreement.

The NCA responded by establishing the Broadcasting Monitoring Centre to provide the required technical support for the objectives of the Memorandum of Cooperation.

With the commissioning of the Centre, the NCA now has a new system with 16 satellite receivers and monitors all 13 satellites providing Free to Air (FTA) satellite TV services over the territory of Ghana.

Currently, it records content for 100 TV stations and 50 FM stations.

Speaking at a ceremony to commission the Broadcasting Monitoring Centre, NCA Director General Mr. Joe Anokye disclosed that his outfit is determined to scale up to cover more of the about 300 TV stations on the satellite and terrestrial platforms.

He assured that the NCA is open to further engagement with stakeholders including the media to ensure the full benefits of the new Broadcasting Monitoring Centre are enjoyed.

Mr. Joe Anokye

“With the continuous support of the NCA Board, we hope to scale up to exhaustively cover more stations in Phase 2 of the project.

“It is our hope that we can engage further with your institutions to maximize the benefits of this important national installation in the national interest and for the public good,” Mr. Joe Anokye said at the commissioning ceremony.

Delivering a keynote address at the ceremony, the board chairman of the NCA, Mr. Isaac Osei-Bonsu Jnr emphasised that the main purpose of the initiative is to protect consumers of broadcasting services.

“Broadcast media monitoring solutions such as the BMC can play an important role in our society for content monitoring purpose for various institutions including but not limited to the National Media Commission, National Security, and other security apparatus, Food and Drugs Authority, GHAMRO, etc.

“This is what makes this solution very important to the country and to the various state agencies that are present today,” Mr. Isaac Osei-Bonsu Jnr added.

The board chair further noted that with the Broadcasting Monitoring Centre, the NCA we will now have evidence of what goes on in the broadcasting landscape.

Mr. Isaac Osei-Bonsu Jnr

According to him, the NCA will through this bring some sanity to the media landscape.

“It will also force Broadcasters to operate within their bandwidth to avoid interruptions. In short, this initiative gives the opportunity to observe the media without interruptions. With such innovations in place, I believe nothing goes unnoticed,” Mr. Isaac Osei-Bonsu Jnr said.

Giving some remarks at the commissioning ceremony, the Deputy Minister of Information, Hon. Fatimatu Abubakar said the Ministry is excited that the NMC and the NCA have come together to create and share space so that there can be some efficiency in media monitoring.

She said she is confident that the Centre will keep media houses on their toes for the right things to be done.

“Just the awareness that someone is watching will is a key form of regulation. We would only assure that NCA that they will continue to have our support so that we will get the efficiency that we want,” Hon. Fatimatu Abubakar emphasised.

Among other things, the Broadcasting Monitoring Centre also provides a classic example of how the provision of systems or solutions by one Agency can be useful and critical for other Agencies.

The BMC will provide information to the various Agencies when needed for investigations or for verification, providing a digital plug for the recording and storing of broadcasting content in a digital manner and format.