THE State-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) stands to lose $68-million in advertising revenue if the Minister of State for Information Jonathan Moyo goes ahead with his plans to ban financial institutions from sponsoring programmes at the debt-ridden public broad-caster. Former ZBC chief executive Luke Munyawarara, shocked by the move, in mid-June wrote a letter to board chairman Gideon Gono arguing that the corporation’s identity was at stake and that the legal implications for breach of contract that would follow were immense. ZBC is reeling under weighty debts and relies heavily on advertising revenue and licensing fees after the government lifted its subsidies about eight years ago. Moyo has protested that sponsorship of certain programmes on ZBC channels was wrong and that the corporation had ceded editorial and production control to the sponsors of programmes.- The Zimbabwe Independent