Local Media must comply by end of the year

Francine Burns

Broadcasters have six months to get in line with local content. Burns says she considers that timeline is adequate.

Francine Burns, Chair, Belize Broadcasting Authority

“Really, this is not the first time that they would have been hearing of it, so I do believe preparation should have been already underway and a lot of them have expressed that they do internally already do that because not only is the sort of pressure coming from a regulatory standpoint but when the broadcasters are placing their programs on other sites like Facebook, Youtube, Vimeo, they are under pressure as well because if they flag certain copyright content it’s then removed.  So they are aware of the issue for some time now, it’s not something that’s new, so to speak.  So in terms of time, we think this is just for them to get that extra push to realize that it’s now coming full circle.  We do realize that it may sound like a short period of time, but it’s again, a discussion that has been happening for some time and the broadcasters themselves are already making moves.”