The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) on Friday imposed N2 million fines on two privately-owned television stations, Arise News and TVC.

According to the NBC, the two television stations earned the fines for breaching national broadcasting codes in the run-up to the 2023 general elections.

ThisDay reports that the fines were announced in separate letters the NBC Director General, Balarabe Shehu Ilelah, wrote to the managements of the two organisations.

The letter also asked the organisations to pay this fines within two weeks of the receipt of the letters or face a raise of the sanction.

The NBC, in its letter to TVC, said the television station breached sections 1.10.4; 3.1.2; 3.1.2; 3.3.1(e); 4.2.2 (g); 4.2.2 (g); 4.3.1(e); 5.3.3 (c); 5.3.3 (e); 5.3.3 (f); and 5.5.1 (b) of the broadcasting code.

The Nigerian broadcasting industry regulator accused TVC News of allowing derogatory and unfair comments to be broadcast on its station, saying the worrisome trend had become TVC’s house style.

It listed what it called the unprofessional broadcasts by TVC to include the Joint media Directorate of the APC Presidential Campaign Council press briefing where Festus Keyamo said “Obasanjo and Atiku run a criminal enterprise, an empire of fraud in Abuja” and alleged that some goons of Atiku Abubakar were planning to eliminate Michael Achimugu, a whistle blower.

The NBC also took a swipe at TVC News for, it alleged, not giving equal news coverage to other political parties in all their news.

On the part of Arise TV, NBC pointed at infractions on sections 1.10.4; 3.1.2; 3.3.1(e); 5.3.3 (e); 5.3.3 (f); 5.5.1 (b); 5.5.1 (d); and 5.5.6 of the Code.

To buttress the accusation, the commission cited the broadcast of the presidential campaign rally of PDP in Delta, interview with former APC Campaign Director, Na’jaatu Muhammed, and broadcast of the PDP presidential campaign rally in Sokoto.

It also accused Arise Global Media of giving prominence to unfair contents which are glamorized on Arise News programme “What is Trending”.