National Broadcasting Board

Broadcasting Act

Broadcasting Regulations

Statutory Functions

The National Broadcasting Board (NBB) was established by Act of Parliament, the Broadcasting Act (Cap 72:04). The Board consists of eleven members who have a five-year renewable term. The current Board members were appointed between 1999 and 2000. The process of appointing the Board was carried out by the Nominating Committee. It held its first meeting in November 2000. On the 29th June 2001, the Board was empowered to begin licensing and regulating broadcasting.

Functions of the NBB Board as stated in Section 10 of the Broadcasting Act (Cap 72:04) are;

(a) to issue broadcasting licences,
(b) to exercise control over and to supervise broadcasting activities, including the relaying of radio and television programmes from places in and out of Botswana to places in and outside Botswana,
(c) to allocate available spectrum resources in such manner as to ensure the widest possible diversity of programming and optimal utilisation of the spectrum resources.
d ) The Board is also responsible for monitoring and handling complaints against broadcasting stations.

In accordance with Section 23 of the Act, Broadcasting Regulations (72:04) are required to accompany the Policy and the Act.

Structure and organisation

Since its inception in the year 2000, the Board was operating under the Office of the President until the new Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology was formed in 2003. Before the establishment of NBB, the Botswana Telecommunications Authority (BTA) was regulating and monitoring the broadcasting sector in Botswana. In 2007, the NBB licensed three commercial radio stations: YaRona FM, Gabz FM and DumaFM to broadcast nationwide.

At present, the Botswana Telecommunications Authority (BTA) serves as the Secretariat to the Board and provides professional advisory advice to the NBB on technical matters.

Licensing

The NBB is in the process of issuing licences on the following types of broadcasting services in Botswana.
· Public broadcasting
· Private broadcasting and
· Community broadcasting

Public broadcasting services as defined in the Act means a broadcasting service provided by any statutory body which is funded either wholly or partly through State revenues.

In accordance with the Act, private broadcasting service means a broadcasting service operated for profit and controlled by a person who is not a public or community broadcasting licensee.

Community broadcasting services as stated in the Act means broadcasting service which -
(a) is fully controlled by a non-profit entity and carried on for non-profitable purposes;
(b) serves a particular community;
(c) encourages members of the community served by it or persons associated with or promoting the interests of such broadcasting services; and
(d) may be funded by donations, grants, sponsorship or advertising or membership fees, or by any combination of any of them.

Policy formulation

In July and August 2002, the Board conducted three public consultation meetings in order to develop the Broadcasting Policy of Botswana. The consultation process was carried out in Gaborone, Francistown and Gantsi. The general public and the stakeholders were invited to contribute towards the development of the policy. A Consultant was engaged to develop the Broadcasting Policy. The consultant drafted it and was reviewed by the Board before presenting it to the Parliament for approval.

The NBB developed policy in order to achieve a fair, reasonable and balanced regulatory regime that will serve the broadcasting sector and the public well in the developing broadcasting environment. The policy objectives are to promote plurality of ownership to radio and television and to ensure that broadcasting serves the needs of the audience it is licensed to service.

Broadcasting Regulations

NBB needs regulations that are capable of facilitating broadcasting service as well as setting standards and applying them. They are required to assist in the evaluation of applications for television and radio broadcast licences and to monitor programme schedules and content to ensure compliance with licence conditions.

The regulations have to be approved by Attorney General's Chambers through the Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology

Current Broadcasting Services in Botswana

Commercial Radio Stations

Gabz FM: (National) Licensed (2007-15 years)

Ya Rona FM: (National) Licensed (2007- 15years)

Duma FM: (National) Licensed (2007- 15years)

RB2: (National) Unlicensed

Public Radio Station
Radio Botswana: (National) Licensed (10 years - 2004)

Television Stations in Botswana

Public Television Station
Botswana Television- BTV: (national) Unlicensed

Commercial
Gaborone Broadcasting Company (GBC): (60 km²) Licensed (15 years - 2005)
Munhumutape African Broadcasting Corporation (MABC) TV (Satellite subscription ) 15 years - 2007

Botswana has three licensed private radio stations operating nationwide, Ya Rona FM and Gabz FM and Duma FM. The three radio stations were licensed by the NBB in 2008.

The existing public broadcasting service stations, namely RB2 and BTV are not yet licensed. The other public broadcasting srvice station, Radio Botswana(RB), was Licensed on 21 December 2004. GBC is the only commercial terrestrial television station. Multichoice Botswana operates by satellite. GBC was licensed on the 30th August 2002 and Multichoice Botswana is not yet licensed.

Monitoring of Broadcasting Activities

The monitoring is done in accordance with the 'light touch regulation' principle that has been adopted by the Board. This means that there is occasional structured listening of radio stations and watching of television broadcasts that are subsequently analysed for compliance with license terms and conditions. Where there are breaches to the terms and conditions, these are taken up and resolved with the affected licensee in line with its particular license terms and conditions and within the provisions of the Broadcasting Act [Cap 72:04] and the Broadcasting Regulations of 2004.

Study visits

The Board has since its inception taken various study visits to other Regulators such as:

" Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA)
" Canadian Radio - Television and Telecommunications Commission(CRTC)
" Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA)

The Board has in turn hosted other regulators on benchmarking missions.

AFFILIATION TO INTERNATIONAL BODIES

The Board participates at national, regional and international forums where strategic decisions are made for the development of the communications sector. Consequently it has affiliated to some bodies that offer such forums.

" Southern Africa Broadcasting Association (SABA)
" Commonwealth Broadcasting Association (CBA)
" African Communications Regulatory Authorities Network (ACRAN)
" International Institute of Communications (IIC)

Contacts:

NBB Chairman
Private Bag 00495
Gaborone
Botswana

Telephone: (+267) 3957755 Fax: (+267) 3957976Email: Broadcasting@bta.org.bw

Web address: http://www.bta.org.bw/nbb.htm

The NBB attended workshops and conferences with the market players and regulatory authorities such as Independent Communications of South Africa (ICASA) and the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association (CBA) conference in Manchester, UK.

Board Members Profiles

Dr. M. Mpotokwane
Ph.D, Lecturer, University of Botswana
NBB Chairman

Has worked for the University of Botswana as a lecturer in Environmental Science for over 20 years. Research interest are natural resource use for rural development, use of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for natural resource management and environmental policies.

Has been a member or an active participant in a number of NGOs dealing with environmental issues in Botswana and the region, such as: chairman Thusano Lefatsheng; founder member Somarelang Tikologo; member Kalahari Conservation Society; member Botswana Society; active participant in a number of IUCN Botswana's activities; active participant in Southern African Resource and Documentation Centre's (SARDC) activities (Harare).

Ph.D. in Environmental Management from University of Stirling, Scotland. Married has three children.

Ms Esther Kanaimba
NBB member

Dr Thulaganyo T. Mogobe
NBB Member

A Lecturer in Drama and Theatre Studies at the University of Botswana since 1988. He is also a member of the University of Botswana Governing Council since 2001; a member of the Botswana National Cultural Council since 2000; a non-executive director of Mmegi Publishing House since 1996 and has also served in the Botswana National Youth Council Voter Education and Youth Manifesto Consultative Committee in 1999-2001.
.

Dr. Frederick Jeff Ramsay
NBB Member

Mr Modipe Nkwe
NBB Member

Modipe Chris Nkwe is a journalist by Training. Chris has been in the mainstream journalism and Corporate Communications for over 16 years. A Chartered Public Relations Practitioner, he is currently head of Marketing and Corporate Communications at the Botswana Housing Corporation.

Mr. Oshinka Tsiang
NBB Member

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