NBC cuts TV programming

AS of today, Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) television viewers will have to switch the channel come midnight, as the broadcaster sheds the fat off its scheduled programming.

The NBC announced on Friday that it would no longer broadcast around the clock. The television broadcast will start at 06h00 and end at midnight, or 00h30 at the latest.”We’ve been embarking on several cost-cutting measures recently and this is just one of them,” NBC board Chairman Ponhele Ya France told The Namibian on Friday, commenting on the latest board decision to try and rejuvenate the cash-strapped and mismanaged corporation.Other cuts, Ya France said, included closing the NBC’s under-utilised Luederitz office, scaling down the office in Walvis Bay, and putting on hold plans to set up offices at Gobabis and Eenhana.Earlier this month, the NBC announced the appointment of a new Acting Director General in Stanley Simataa, the Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education.Ya France said Simataa came at no extra expense to the NBC, as the ministry was paying his salary.Simataa will act as NBC boss until the permanent position is filled.The closing date for applications is this Friday, after which candidates will be short-listed and a Director General chosen accordingly.The NBC’s last Director General, Gerry Munyama, resigned in November after he was charged with fraud involving N$345 995.88 of the corporation’s money.Munyama’s court case resumes on March 29.The television broadcast will start at 06h00 and end at midnight, or 00h30 at the latest.”We’ve been embarking on several cost-cutting measures recently and this is just one of them,” NBC board Chairman Ponhele Ya France told The Namibian on Friday, commenting on the latest board decision to try and rejuvenate the cash-strapped and mismanaged corporation.Other cuts, Ya France said, included closing the NBC’s under-utilised Luederitz office, scaling down the office in Walvis Bay, and putting on hold plans to set up offices at Gobabis and Eenhana.Earlier this month, the NBC announced the appointment of a new Acting Director General in Stanley Simataa, the Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education.Ya France said Simataa came at no extra expense to the NBC, as the ministry was paying his salary.Simataa will act as NBC boss until the permanent position is filled.The closing date for applications is this Friday, after which candidates will be short-listed and a Director General chosen accordingly.The NBC’s last Director General, Gerry Munyama, resigned in November after he was charged with fraud involving N$345 995.88 of the corporation’s money.Munyama’s court case resumes on March 29.