Ivory Coast paves the way for liberalising broadcast media

Press reports from the Ivory Coast say potential private TV owners will have to pay one billion Fcfa (about two million US dollars) as a deposit as part of the government's broadcast media liberalistion programme. Non commercial private broadcasters will have to pay 500m Fcfa while private commercial radio broadcasters will pay 400m for private companies, vs 300m for the private non-commercial stations. These conditions were announced by Ibrahim Sy Savane, the head of HACA, the state High Authority for Audiovisual Communication. HACA is going to set up a commission that will examine all the projects. To begin, the government will award only five private licences.