Covid-19 Aftermath; TVs, Tabloids, Radios and Online Publications Demand for Tax Waiver on License Fees for Three Years.
National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) a collective voice of Uganda’s radio, television and online broadcasters has appealed to government to waive license fees for at least three years as one of the stimulus measures to enable them overcome the effects of COVID-19 pandemic.
The call was made while the association leaders appeared before the National Economy Committee of Parliament on Friday together with Uganda Communications Commission to give their views on the effects of COVID-19 pandemic.
The association through their secretary general Joseph Beyanga said that they would like government to waive off license fees for at least three years and also waive off signal carriage fees for the next six months to enable them to keep operating.
“With the lockdown measures, most people stayed at home. This increased media consumption tremendously. Most people stayed home, watching TV, listening to radios, reading online and other media. However, the industry did not reap from this growth. Instead, it suffered unprecedented loss of revenue,” Beyanga said.
Beyanga said that the media relies mostly on advertising for business and with the lockdown, most businesses that would advertise were gravely affected since there was diminished demand as people were confined in their homes and had to ration their savings to survive the uncertain times.
“With less sales from the public, most companies halted advertising immediately. Most multinationals including; Emirates, Airtel, CBL, Coke, EABL, NBL have either halted advertising or cut budgets, considerably. The already struggling industry where less than 30% were making profit (even before COVID 19), is now ailing,” Beyanga explained.
The association also called for government to help clear outstanding bills to the media and other suppliers by 30th June 2020 which will help struggling businesses.
“The media has over Shs15 billion pending as advertising and communication bills for government and government agencies. If cleared, this would go a long way in keeping the media and other businesses alive,” Benyanga said.
The association leaders advised government to also consider taxing international content distributors such as Google, YouTube, Facebook and others.
“A lot of advertising is now going to international content distributors such as Google, YouTube, Facebook and others. These take away our dollars from small companies as well as the big ones without paying tax. This has eaten into the advertising revenue for media houses further crippling their financial situation. We propose Facebook, YouTube, and other such content distributors to pay content creators. They are doing it in other countries but not here in Uganda. We also need them to be regulated and taxed, which money would help Ugandans in this terrible time,” noted the association Chairperson, Kin Kariisa.
However, the Acting Executive Director of Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), Irene Kagwa Sewankambo said that the proposals to waive both license and signal fees is impossible as these fees are necessary to enable broadcasters perform their duties.
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