Budget was last straw for Liberty owner Samtani Business up for sale By Desiree Jodah Stabroek News April 17, 2000 Owner of the Liberty cinema Pradeep Samtani says he has been forced to put his business place up for sale as a result of unfair competition from television stations and government's inability to pass copyright legislation. Samtani told Stabroek News in an interview that he had been running at a loss for about five years now, but had kept his business going in the hope that the government would pass the copyright legislation that would have protected his business and waive the entertainment tax. A copyright bill is currently in circulation. Minister of Trade, Tourism and Industry Geoffrey Da Silva in an invited comment told Stabroek News he was willing to discuss the matter with the businessman. He said that the copyright bill is expected to be passed in the near future. Samtani lamented that requests for assistance to keep his business alive were made to four Presidents without help. Samtani, who said he has been in the cinema business for 25 years, proferred that he had foreseen the downfall of the cinema industry about 10 years ago and had made a request to then President Desmond Hoyte for permission to open a television and radio station. This was not approved. Requests for the passage of the copyright legislation and for a waiver of the entertainment tax until the bill was passed, were made to the late President Cheddi Jagan, former President Janet Jagan and now President Bharrat Jagdeo. A request, he said, was also made to Mr Jagdeo when he was Finance Minister and another to current Finance Minister Saisnarine Kowlessar. They have all fallen on deaf ears, he complained. Samtani said he made the decision to close the cinema and put it up for sale after the National Budget was presented and he discovered there was no mention of the entertainment tax waiver. He showed Stabroek News several letters dating back to 1995 in which he made his request. He produced a letter which he said was sent by Information Minister Moses Nagamootoo in 1997 in response to a letter he had sent to then Finance Minister Jagdeo complaining about the unfair competition from the twenty-plus television stations and his requests for the waiver as well as his plea for the required legislation. Part of the letter stated that government was determined to regularise the situation. The letter further stated that the government had every cause to believe that the cinema business would not be allowed to further disintegrate. However, said Samtani, he's still waiting for government help. He said it has become impossible to survive and he's at the point where he was finding it difficult to pay his small staff and meet his obligations to the banks. Samtani said the television stations broadcast movies even before they are shown in the cinema. He said it costs television stations virtually nothing to broadcast these films, since they buy a DVD (digital video disc) or video recording of the movie in North America for prices ranging from US$5 to US$15. Television station owners do not have the overhead expenses as the owners of cinemas do. According to him, television owners bring a new movie for which he has the copyright, show it and charge $500 for a spot during the broadcasting of the film. Samtani said he pays $700,000 in rates and taxes, plus water rates, and with the increase in electricity rates, he is now paying approximately $150,000 per month. Entertainment taxes paid to the government range from $5M to $6M per year. Insurance is also costly. He said the company under which he operates, India Overseas International had to drop the sponsorship of several radio programmes. These include Filmi Duniya, the Early Bird show and Musical Mailbag. Besides these expenses, he said a substantial amount of money is spent on advertisements. Samtani said in his argument for a waiver of the entertainment tax, he had suggested that government could make back this sum by taxing the television owners whom he claimed illegally broadcast the movies. He said with the hope that something would have been done for the industry this year, he had invested several million dollars in a modern surround sound system and a new screen for the cinema which is situated on Vlissengen Road near to Lamaha Street. Samtani said politicians should not run from problems. He said if he was told several years ago that it was impossible to pass the legislation necessary to protect the industry and that there could not be a waiver on the entertainment tax, he would have quit a long time ago and saved himself from unnecessary expenses. He said the company was working to pay off the bank only. Increasing admission fees would not help as Samtani said 90 per cent of the people who go to his cinema are poor.