Fiji Broadcasting Corporation Limited is a success story according to the FBC Chief Executive Officer, Riyaz Sayed-Khaiyum as the company had budgeted losses from 2010 to 2015.
While speaking to the Public Accounts Committee on their 2015 Auditor General’s Report, Sayed-Khaiyum said that they had to take the $22 million loan from the Fiji Development Bank to do a major broadcasting infrastructure upgrade for their radio network and start a new television station in the country.
The Chief Financial Officer of FBC says that they are not even paid on the real market rate for the service that they are providing to the government.
Vimlesh Sagar stated that they are providing acquittals to government on a quarterly basis and the public service broadcasting service fee that is provided is not even half of the amount of the service they are providing.
Riyaz Sayed-Khaiyum also says that it is very expensive to run the AM radio service adding that expenses for annual repairs, equipment renewal, maintenance and electricity will increase FBC’s AM radio expenses by $630,000 a year.
He says this does not include the cost of the programs.
According to the company’s annual reports tabled in parliament, FBC made a loss of $516,943 in the year 2010, a loss of $1.137 million in the year 2011, a loss of $7.103 million in the year 2012, a loss of $5.602 million in the year 2013, a loss of $3.924 million in the year 2014 and a loss of $3.361 million in the year 2015.
According to the reports, FBC was getting annual public service broadcast grants of $2.9 million to run Radio Fiji One, Radio Fiji Two and FBC TV public service broadcast programmes.
The public service broadcast grant from government to FBC was increased to $11 million in the 2017/2018 National Budget.
This is now being inputted in FBC’s financial books as public service broadcast fees.
2010-2015 FBC Annual Reports tabled in Parliament:
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