Socrate Safo and Prophet Daniel Obinim
Veteran filmmaker and entertainment personality, Socrate Safo, has raised concerns about the alleged airing of copyrighted movies on Prophet Daniel Obinim’s OBTV without the required permissions.
According to Socrate, he recently saw a movie being broadcast on the television station and decided to find out whether the appropriate rights had been obtained from the owners of the production.
He claimed that enquiries made with the Copyright Office raised questions about the station’s licensing of audiovisual content.
Socrates stressed that owning a television station does not automatically grant a broadcaster the right to air movies or other copyrighted works.
He argued that filmmakers and rights holders must be properly compensated whenever their productions are used for commercial broadcasting.
Taking a swipe at the religious nature of the station, Socrate questioned why spiritual guidance had allegedly not extended to copyright compliance.
“How come the Holy Spirit, or whatever spiritual power he believes in, has not whispered anything to him about copyright? Prayer does not replace a copyright licence. Anointing oil does not constitute permission from a filmmaker,” he said.
Socrate added that his concerns were not limited to OBTV, saying he had also looked into other television stations associated with pastors and churches.
He called for greater attention to copyright compliance within religious broadcasting, particularly at a time when Ghana’s creative industry continues to struggle to generate adequate revenue from locally produced content.
The filmmaker also highlighted the role of the Copyright Monitoring Team in monitoring copyrighted works and investigating suspected infringements.
He urged religious broadcasters to lead by example by obtaining the necessary licences and permissions before airing films and other protected creative works.