The Chairman of the National Media Commission (NMC), Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh, has waded into the saga between the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), and the Ghana Football Association (GFA), over the TV rights for the Ghana Premier League.
The GFA’s announced on Wednesday January 8, that the Chinese-owned StarTimes had won the rights in a $5.25 million deal over the next five years drew an immediate reaction from GBC, which questioned the basis of the GFA’s assessment, claiming that the corporation’s bid was both financially and technically superior to the winning bid.
That also drew a response from the GFA, which defended its choice and “accused GBC of deliberately misinforming the public on the facts of the case”.
However, Mr. Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh speaking at the inauguration of the newly appointed GBC Board in Accra on Wednesday January 15, said he felt ‘embarrassed’ hearing the news.
“When I first heard the news, it looked like I felt so embarrassed within me, that I tried to mobilise public support to resist this kind of imperialist decision.”
“And then when I saw their (GFA) rejoinder to the GBC, I said what is this?” he questioned.
“Now I would want to say, because I have not met the GFA, I decided that I was going to talk to Kurt Okraku, GFA President, over this matter to find out why they decided what they decided.”
“But before that, what I want is that, in the same way that they (GFA) published the details of the offer of the GBC, they should publish the offer of StarTimes. They need to make it public so that the average Ghanaian can judge for himself whether indeed that is the best deal.”
“That will offer us those opportunities.”
“But on the other side of it, I want to sound a caution to GBC, if anybody decides to go and do ‘galamsey’, they must understand that they are not working for GBC but they are working for themselves, and they must pay the ultimate prize,” he warned.
“Now if in the national interest, at any point, the services of GBC are required to ensure that the programme becomes successful, I think that we should negotiate for value for money,” he added.
