SECTOR 3 Therefore, in trying to make it accessible to all, the levy collection was moved to IBA. The idea is to make it a subscriber base, so the regulator was better positioned to collect money and distribute it more fairly. The TV levy is also collected through money from MultiChoice and TopStar. Nevertheless, since 2008 private broadcasters have been asking how they could get access to some of the television levy funds, and the IBA has agreed to distribute the money to all stations on their books. However, this process has not yet started. ZNBC also has shares in both MultiChoice and TopStar. The policy on digital migration also required the government to obtain a loan to develop digital technologies. It is a loan that will be paid back by TopStar (as a shareholder) over time. Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country meets only a few aspects of indicator 3 Country meets some aspects of indicator 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator Average score: Score of previous years: ✓ ✓✓✓✓✓✓ ✓✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 1.7 2017 = 1.8 3.7 The state/public broadcaster offers diverse programming and formats that cater for all interests, including local content and quality public interest programmes ZNBC caters for seven local languages and is the only television station to offer sign language for the deaf. The four television channels focus on education, religion, sport, community news, as well as local content and drama. Therefore, very little of the overall content deals with politics, but people tend to focus on the main evening news bulletin. In fact, there are many diverse programmes in the overall schedule that are well balanced and cover varied interests. However, other panellists pointed out that the main TV 1 channel is the focus for Zambian viewers. “The general rule is that a television station is judged by its main news content each evening.” AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER ZAMBIA 2021 37