Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings has increased listener’s radio and television licence fees. The review is contained in a Statutory Instrument (SI) of a Government Gazette published on Friday by ZBC.
Motor vehicle radio licence fees are now pegged at $300 from $10 per quarter while companies will have to pay $600 per quarter for car radio licences, up from $80. Businesses with television sets will have to pay $1 000.
A fortnight ago, ZBC told the Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services that service delivery was being hamstrung by low licence fees.
The broadcaster claims that the fees had been last reviewed in 2009. The notice reads in part:
A listener may pay any fee referred to in subsection (1) in Euros, British Pounds, South African Rand or Botswana Pula at the international cross rate of exchange of the currency in question for the Zimbabwean dollar, rounded downwards or upwards to the nearest multiple of 10.
The notice also said that listeners in rural areas will pay $25 per quarter for radio, while those in urban areas pay $50 per quarter.
Listeners have in the past been reluctant to pay the licence fees saying that ZBC did not have programs worthy paying for while some accused the broadcaster of being partisan.
More: The Herald