The 2024 Flagbearer of the Peoples National Convention (PNC), Bernard Mornah has expressed deep concerns over the lack of national actions that has allowed DSTV monopoly to fester in Ghana.

Mr. Mornah called for stronger support for the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) to allow it to produce and air the kind of content that drives viewers to all these foreign pay TV services, adding that the DStv’s dominance “did not sit well” with him.

He argued that the National broadcaster should be equipped with all the necessary technical and financial capacity to produce or even acquire the same level of programming available on the foreign networks, particularly in sports and entertainment.

“It did not sit well with me, the recent noise about DStv and what they are doing, everything that we could watch on DStv, GBC should be given the capacity to produce the same things so that people of Ghana can buy it”
Bernard Mornah Flagbearer of PNC

He added that the foreign paid TV services have a matter of fact benefited from the Ghanaian viewership and revenue, and local broadcaster suffer to compete due the limited funding and infrastructure.

To him the country’s media regulators must take deliberate steps to empower GBC to be self-sufficient and competitive.

“It’s about European football or what football that we think that Ghanaians wants to watch, GBC should be empowered to be able to get those bouquets so we can watch them.”
Bernard Mornah Flagbearer of PNC

He then called on all authorities responsible overseeing Ghana’s media space to strengthen GBC’s capacity, his argument was that the national broadcaster should be the preferred platform for all the country’s television content.

The issue goes beyond just entertainment, exclaiming that the access to information should be linked to the financial status of the Ghanaian people, he said. Mr. Mornah expressed yet another concern that even the free to air content becomes difficult to access when you subscribe to this pay TV services such as DStv.

“Apart from GBC or GTV, that you will go onto a DStv package when your subscription expired that you can get free, every other media that you get for free, if you subscribe to DStv, you cannot get it for free you pay”
Bernard Mornah Flagbearer of PNC

Mr. Mornah’s remarks spark yet again the conversation of media independence, affordability, and national development. Over reliance on foreign satellites limits the growth of our local media and undermines the efforts to tell Ghana’s own story.

Untapped Potentials

The former flagbearer of the PNC indicated that the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation’s potential remains untapped, noting that as Ghana’s only state-owned broadcaster, it holds the widest nationwide reach and is positioned to serve both the urban and rural audiences.

However, he decried that years of underfunding and outdated infrastructure have left it unable to compete with global players like DStv which continues to attract the viewership of the country.

He explained how the foreign broadcasters can and dictates contents of their choosing where they focus on imported shows and sports leagues while offering little to no room for the local productions.

Mr. Mornah continued to call for reforms within the public broadcaster, where he said “they are not new” proposals have been made for the restructure of GBC into a more autonomous and commercially viable institution.

Empowering GBC with the modern facilities and being able to broadcast popular content such as local and international football could make it a competitor to the pay TV operators.

As media consumption increasingly moves towards these paid subscription and online platforms, Mr Mornah insisted that ensuring that Ghanaians get equitable access to the national content becomes a matter of public interest.

“Those responsible for our media Landscape must see to it that GBC is clued with capacity to do what the people of Ghana want”
Bernard Mornah Flagbearer of PNC

This argument stems from the recent standoff between the Communication Minister, Hon. Samuel Nartey George, and Multichoice Ghana over what many described as the high subscription fee of DSTV.

While some gains were achieved following the Communications Minister negotiation, the former PNC flagbearer underscored the need for immediate resourcing of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation.

According to him, GBC when properly equipped could play a vital role in promoting education, national identity, and accountability through its programming, expressing optimism over the corporation’s commercially viability if it adopts innovative approaches.