• Says Cabinet rejected proposal to sell it

​By Ajith Siriwardana
State owned Channel Eye had been secretly sold to VIS Broadcasting (Pvt.) Ltd. for Rs  250 million per month effective for six months from June 30, National People’s Power (NPP) alleged yesterday.

NPP politburo member Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa told a news conference that the airtime of Channel Eye had been sold without any transparency and that the Minister of Mass Media had submitted a Cabinet Paper yesterday after the Rupavahini employees and people who were aware of the deal objected to it.

He said however, the Cabinet had not granted approval to the said Cabinet Paper.

“Plans are afoot to use Channel Eye to telecast programmes of the SBT channel of VIS Broadcasting. This channel is owned by Lycamobile. Minister Bandula Gunawardena and the President were planning to transfer the ownership of Channel Eye for six months and then extend it to two years,” he said. 

Dr. Jayatissa said the Cabinet Paper had been brought in to justify the transaction after completing the whole process involving the transaction on June 30 and the transaction being effective from July 1.

He said the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna was against this move and that the people too must come forward against such a move.