SECTOR 2 Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country minimally meets aspects of the indicator. 3 Country meets many aspects of indicator but progress may be too recent to judge. 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator. 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator and has been doing so over time. Average score: 2.3 (2005 = 1.8, 2007 = 2.7) 2.5 Adequate competition legislation / regulation seeks to prevent media concentration and monopolies. Analysis: As mentioned in indicator 2.1, there are a number of incidences of concentration of ownership within the media sector in Namibia. Currently, the law does not prevent this, and all the current Namibian Communications Commission (NCC) Act stipulates with regards to ownership is that 51 per cent of the shareholding be under Namibian control. However the draft Communications Bill, which is set to replace the NCC Act, under the heading “Anti-competitive practices”, states in section 18 (7): “Sharing of directors and officers among otherwise unaffiliated providers of telecommunications or any type of broadcasting service without the approval of the Authority, is prohibited.” Within the same Bill, under section 51 (6), on the issuing of broadcasting licenses, it states: “When considering an application for the issue of a broadcasting license, the Authority must have regard to … the desirability or otherwise of allowing any person or associated persons to have control of or an substantial interest in – (a) more than one broadcasting or transmission service; (b) more than one radio station and one television station [or] a combination of television and radio channels and registered newspapers with a common circulation in Namibia”. Thus, cross-ownership within the media sector may, in future, not be allowed by the new Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia, which will replace the Namibian Communications Commission once the Bill is passed, but will be only at the discretion of the authority. 34 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER NAMIBIA 2009