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What next after WBS TV closure?
WBS TV ceased operation on December 14, 2016. Courtesy photo
What you need to know:
- WBS TV ceased operation on December 14, 2016.
- The TV was put under receivership in April this year after failing to clear Shs7 billion tax debt.
On a hot Wednesday afternoon, a quick trip to Wavah Broadcasting Services (WBS) house that majestically stands high winds up on Naguru hill.
A pronounced WBS TV banner on the storied building still soars high but the silence at the company premises is deafening. It is only a matter of days or even hours before the banner of one of Uganda’s first private television stations is taken down.
A security guard at the company gate, about three personal cars and three branded company vans, it seems like business unusual.
At the reception is a female security guard and another fairly skinned lady in charge of the few workers who are still operating the station.
Pointing at the television set on my right, the receptionist tells me the station is still operating. Indeed, WBS TV is playing Sheeba Karungi’s hit song “Farmer”.
“As you can see we are working but closure of business will be today,” she tells me. Unfortunately, I’m informed that it is not possible to get a formal comment on the station’s closure.
“The general manager has stepped out so you cannot get any information, at least not today,” the lady says.
READ:
WBS closes, assets sold over failure to pay Shs7billion
According to a statement signed by Mr Kabiito Karamagi, the Receiver/Manager, appointed by URA under receivership, WBS will cease to operate effective December 14, this year
Also at the reception are a number of empty cubicles. A former WBS TV employee who prefers not to be named after she left the station a month ago tells me the marketing and public relations team occupies this working space on a normal working day.
“Workers are there but they are very few. We were laid off in a formal way as we were asked to reapply internally to retain our jobs but they told us they could not keep all of us there,” she says.
Several workers claim that this was because the station is likely to turn into a Sports station although the company did not admit it.
“Our services were terminated and although they did not admit it that it would turn into a Sports TV, we had an idea, we could see it through the processes,” the former employee says.
The station’s predicament leaves many other former employees stranded but what next after the sale?
In a phone interview with Daily Monitor, Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) Assistant Commissioner Public and Corporate Affairs Ms Sarah Banage confirmed that an interested investor who is yet to be revealed has bought the rights and assets of WBS TV.
“The license has been sold and as of today (Wednesday), the brand of WBS TV ceases to exist because the new buyer will not be continuing with it as WBS TV since they sold the rights,” Ms Banage said.
Commenting on how the Shs7 billion tax debt that led to the receivership and final sale of the company will be paid back, Ms Banage explained that the modalities of what debt is accrued to who and how it should be paid are yet to be deliberated.
“We need to sit and discuss the modalities of who owns what in order to share the money from what was sold,” she said.
