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Opening of the airwaves
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ)
Weekly Media Update 2005-18
Monday May 16th - Sunday May 22nd 2005

THIS week ZTV (17/5, 8pm) exposed the fact that besides the legal constraints that have hindered the opening up of the airwaves, there were also technical limitations that would make it impossible, at least in the interim, to have independent broadcasters.

As part of its report on Zimbabwe's commemoration of the World Telecommunications Day, the station quoted the chief executive of the signal carrier company, Transmedia, Alfred Mandere, revealing that there was no technical infrastructure to handle more television stations. Said Mandere: "The current telecommunications network has got a narrow bandwidth in terms of...broadcasting applications like television". As such, added Mandere, there cannot be "two or more television channels in Zimbabwe" because "the microwave system, which belongs to TelOne can only support one channel". ZTV however, allowed such revelations to pass without seeking clarification on the matter.

For example, the station failed to question why the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) had invited aspiring private broadcasters to apply for licences in the first place when the country still did not have sufficient technical capacity to accommodate more television stations. Nor did the station demand an explanation for why BAZ had short-listed Munhumutape African Broadcasting Corporation Television (Private) Limited (MABC) for a "free-to-air national commercial television broadcasting service licence" in view of these technical shortcomings. In fact, according to a BAZ advert placed in The Sunday Mirror (22/5), MABC has been invited to attend a public inquiry to determine its "suitability to be licensed" on June 8 in Harare.

Notably, none of the print media picked up this confusion to have it clarified. It is important that the media seek explanations on matters that could severely curtail citizens' rights to access media of their choice.

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