{"id":375852,"date":"2017-11-21T12:44:41","date_gmt":"2017-11-21T12:44:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=375852"},"modified":"2017-11-21T16:28:05","modified_gmt":"2017-11-21T16:28:05","slug":"ncas-30-day-grace-period-for-fined-fm-stations-elapses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/11\/ncas-30-day-grace-period-for-fined-fm-stations-elapses\/","title":{"rendered":"NCA&#8217;s 30-day grace period for fined FM stations elapses"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The fate of over 130 radio stations that were found to have breached Section 13 of the Electronics Communications Act (2009), Act 775 is yet to be determined by the National Communications Authority (NCA).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Citi News&#8217;<\/strong> checks show that most of the defaulting stations are operational after a 30-day ultimatum given by the Communications Ministry expired over the weekend.<\/p>\n<p>[contextly_sidebar id=&#8221;pvNK2wZXanOLidOGBTQ6oqxXYr8UEIDn&#8221;]The NCA is yet to take a concrete decision on these sanctioned stations.<\/p>\n<p>The NCA sanctioned\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/10\/20\/sanctioned-fm-stations-petition-nca\/\"><strong>131 stations<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0for various\u00a0offences in September 2017.\u00a0These sanctions ranged from the withdrawal of licenses to the imposition of fines, mostly retrospective, amounting to over GHc 1 billion.<\/p>\n<p>97 of the stations picked up fines. Radio Gold and Atlantis Radio picked up the heftiest fines\u00a0of GHc 61,330,000 and GHc 60,350,000 respectively.<\/p>\n<p>On October 20, the Ministry of Communications and the NCA slashed the fines for the commercial FM Broadcasting stations by 50 percent, and granted a waiver to community radio stations.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0stations still owing fines were given 30 days, from October 20, to pay the\u00a0slashed fines, but there is no indication that payments have been made.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the FM stations eventually shut down voluntarily, whereas others were compelled by the NCA to do so, but\u00a0 Accra-based Okay FM, <span style=\"color: #666699;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/10\/19\/okay-fm-hello-fm-off-air-after-nca-crackdown\/\">which was shut down<\/a><\/strong><\/span> after its license was revoked, is back on air.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Legal action<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The action from the NCA attracted some legal resistance with Chris Ackumey,\u00a0a private legal Practitioner and a member of the legal team of the opposition National Democratic Congress\u00a0suing it over the sanctions.<\/p>\n<p>He wants the court to declare the sanctions illegal, and also compel the NCA to compensate\u00a0the affected stations which he says were \u201cunlawfully\u201d sanctioned.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Break down of\u00a0sanctioned stations<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>According to the NCA, eleven (11) radio stations have been requested to pay application fees for renewal of Authorisation, and\u00a0also pay a fine in accordance with the NCA\u2019s gazetted Schedule of Penalties for failure to apply 3 months before the expiry of Authorization within 30 days.<\/p>\n<p>Two (2) radio stations have been asked to submit renewal application within 30 days.<\/p>\n<p>Sixteen (16) radio stations have been asked to submit renewal application, pay application fees, and pay a fine in accordance with the Authority\u2019s gazetted Schedule of Penalties within 30 days.<\/p>\n<p>Twenty\u2010four (24) radio stations have been asked to submit omitted documents and pay a fine in accordance with the Authority\u2019s gazetted Schedule of Penalties within 30 days.<\/p>\n<p>Fifteen (15) radio stations will have their Authorisation processed after payment of fines in accordance with the Authority\u2019s gazetted Schedule of Penalties.<\/p>\n<p>One (1) radio station has been asked to settle its outstanding indebtedness before renewal of Authorization is considered.<\/p>\n<p>Twenty (20) radio stations have been asked to settle their Provisional Authorization (renewal) fees which have been invalidated due to non\u2010payment within sixty days \u2013 to pay interest on due amount.<\/p>\n<p>Eight (8) radio stations have been asked to pay a fine in accordance with the NCA\u2019s gazette Schedule of Penalties before the authority conducts inspections as requested by the stations.<\/p>\n<p>34 of the sanctioned stations had their licences revoked because their\u00a0authorizations\u00a0had expired and were operating illegally.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>By: Philip Nii Lartey\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The fate of over 130 radio stations that were found to have breached Section 13 of the Electronics Communications Act (2009), Act 775 is yet to be determined by the National Communications Authority (NCA). Citi News&#8217; checks show that most of the defaulting stations are operational after a 30-day ultimatum given by the Communications Ministry [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":228922,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[3,219],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>NCA&#039;s 30-day grace period for fined FM stations elapses - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/11\/ncas-30-day-grace-period-for-fined-fm-stations-elapses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NCA&#039;s 30-day grace period for fined FM stations elapses - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The fate of over 130 radio stations that were found to have breached Section 13 of the Electronics Communications Act (2009), Act 775 is yet to be determined by the National Communications Authority (NCA). Citi News&#8217; checks show that most of the defaulting stations are operational after a 30-day ultimatum given by the Communications Ministry [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/11\/ncas-30-day-grace-period-for-fined-fm-stations-elapses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/citi97.3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-11-21T12:44:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-11-21T16:28:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kojo Akoto Boateng\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@citi973\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@citi973\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kojo Akoto Boateng\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/11\/ncas-30-day-grace-period-for-fined-fm-stations-elapses\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/11\/ncas-30-day-grace-period-for-fined-fm-stations-elapses\/\",\"name\":\"NCA's 30-day grace period for fined FM stations elapses - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-11-21T12:44:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-11-21T16:28:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1642ef473fe39bf0c4e2f2f252678eb1\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/11\/ncas-30-day-grace-period-for-fined-fm-stations-elapses\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/11\/ncas-30-day-grace-period-for-fined-fm-stations-elapses\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/11\/ncas-30-day-grace-period-for-fined-fm-stations-elapses\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"NCA&#8217;s 30-day grace period for fined FM stations elapses\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/\",\"name\":\"Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always\",\"description\":\"Ghana News | Ghana Politics | Ghana Soccer | Ghana Showbiz\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1642ef473fe39bf0c4e2f2f252678eb1\",\"name\":\"Kojo Akoto Boateng\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba51f5385119e83762c67ecd6aa410ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba51f5385119e83762c67ecd6aa410ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kojo Akoto Boateng\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/author\/kojo\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"NCA's 30-day grace period for fined FM stations elapses - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/11\/ncas-30-day-grace-period-for-fined-fm-stations-elapses\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"NCA's 30-day grace period for fined FM stations elapses - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","og_description":"The fate of over 130 radio stations that were found to have breached Section 13 of the Electronics Communications Act (2009), Act 775 is yet to be determined by the National Communications Authority (NCA). Citi News&#8217; checks show that most of the defaulting stations are operational after a 30-day ultimatum given by the Communications Ministry [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/11\/ncas-30-day-grace-period-for-fined-fm-stations-elapses\/","og_site_name":"Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/citi97.3","article_published_time":"2017-11-21T12:44:41+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-11-21T16:28:05+00:00","author":"Kojo Akoto Boateng","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@citi973","twitter_site":"@citi973","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kojo Akoto Boateng","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/11\/ncas-30-day-grace-period-for-fined-fm-stations-elapses\/","url":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/11\/ncas-30-day-grace-period-for-fined-fm-stations-elapses\/","name":"NCA's 30-day grace period for fined FM stations elapses - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-11-21T12:44:41+00:00","dateModified":"2017-11-21T16:28:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1642ef473fe39bf0c4e2f2f252678eb1"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/11\/ncas-30-day-grace-period-for-fined-fm-stations-elapses\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/11\/ncas-30-day-grace-period-for-fined-fm-stations-elapses\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/11\/ncas-30-day-grace-period-for-fined-fm-stations-elapses\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"NCA&#8217;s 30-day grace period for fined FM stations elapses"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/","name":"Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","description":"Ghana News | Ghana Politics | Ghana Soccer | Ghana Showbiz","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1642ef473fe39bf0c4e2f2f252678eb1","name":"Kojo Akoto Boateng","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba51f5385119e83762c67ecd6aa410ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba51f5385119e83762c67ecd6aa410ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kojo Akoto Boateng"},"url":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/author\/kojo\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375852"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}