Gabby Otchere Darko, Executive Director of the Danquah Institute, has said Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) can profit immensely from the live telecast of the presidential election petition despite revelations by its Director-General Major Albert Don- Chebe (Rtd) that it losses about $66,000 a day.

The election petition was filed at the Supreme Court by three leading members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). They are Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, National Chairman of the party, Nana Akuffo-Addo, 2012 Presidential Candidate and Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, 2012 vice-presidential candidate.

The petition is challenging the declaration of President John Dramani Mahama as the winner of the 2012 presidential election.

The hearing of the election petition began on the 16th April 2013. It is heard on working days at the Supreme Court from Monday to Thursday. It entered day 24 on Thursday May 30.

The Director-General of GBC who was appointed recently has said the Corporation lost about $66,000 from the physical movement of technical resources such as OB Vans and stationing technicians at the Supreme Court the whole day.

He added on Multi Tv and Joy FM’s Top Story that there was transmission cost with its huge energy component and losses in revenue from adverts and sponsored programs that have been taken off air.

His human resource base was also suffering. He said because of the focus on the petition, some staff could not do anything else.

The Director-General agreed that the live telecast was of colossal importance in enhancing Ghana’s democracy but it also presented an opportunity to address serious financial challenges facing GBC because, he said, “we can’t sustain this forever”.

He also argued it was time for the nation to confront the reality that Ghanaians have to start paying TV license fee if the state broadcaster is to play its public service role effectively.

“A TV license fee that was fixed 18 years ago at 30 pesewas,” he said should be a concern for civil society organisations, government and the general Ghanaian public.

He said there was “a beautiful law” supporting the payment of TV licenses to improve the financial state of the Corporation and yet “almost everybody seems to have forgotten about that”, he lamented.

Democracy would suffer if GBC continues to suffer, the D-G warned.

But speaking on Multi Tv and Joy FM’s Top Story, Gabby Asare Otchere Darko said the live telecast of the petition has increased the viewership base of GBC by about “10 folds” . “Nobody can begrudge them” if they decide to make profit from this, he said.

“Isn’t there some commercial value that can be leveraged and hasn’t been leveraged?”, he asked.

He said unlike the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which operate solely on taxes from the public, GTV had the opportunity to commercialize its operations.

He said that prior to the coverage of the election petition which runs from 10am to 4pm each day, very few people watched programs aired by GTV.

“Without this, what would GTV be doing?, it would be showing certain things nobody would be watching”, he said.

According to the Executive Director, the hearing of the election petition had gotten to “a peak” and could end in three weeks, he claimed.

He appealed to the D-G to continue the live broadcast if they have “come this far”.

He said although he shared concerns about TV licenses raised by the D-G, it was the responsibility of management of GBC to ensure that the fee is increased and collected.