Joe Dinga Pefok (Uncle Joe)
Following Reactivation Of VISION 4 TV’s Signal, After Communication Minister, Rene SADI, Bypassed The National Communication Council (NCC) , And Directly Instructed CANAL + To Do So, The President Of NCC, Joe CHEBONGKENG, Addressed A No – Nonsense Correspondence To CANAL +, Asking The Company To Immediately Withdraw The Signal, Adding That NCC Is Not Under MINCOM.
The Minister of Communication, Rene Emmanuel Sadi, on Friday, October 2, 2026 bypassed the National Communication Council (NCC), and addressed a correspondence directly to the General Manager of Canal + Cameroun , demanding that the company should immediately reinstate the signal of Vision 4 TV in its bouquet. It should be noted that Canal + Cameroun, which is a subsidiary of Canal + International France, had suspended the signal of Vision 4 TV Yaounde, following a decision that was taken at the end of the 48th Extraordinary Session of the National Communication Council on September 29, 2026, that suspended Vision 4 TV for one month.
The President of NCC, had officially informed Canal + Cameroun, a company specialized in the distribution of TV signals or images, of the sanction, and demanded that the company should suspend the signal of Vision 4 TV. Canal + Cameroun, in respect of the NCC decision of September 29, 2026, suspended the signal of Vision 4 from its bouquet. But as The Mentor reported in a separate article, the Minister of Communication on Friday, October 2, 2026, bypassed CNC that slammed the sanction (one month suspension) on Vision 4 TV, and wrote directly to the General Manager of Canal + Cameroun, ordering that the company should immediately reinstate the signal of Vision 4 TV in its bouquet, or better still, that the signal of Vision 4 TV should be reactivated.
Canal + Cameroun hesitated for a while, but finally reactivated the signal of Vision 4 TV late on Monday, October 5, 2026. It should be noted that the mother company, Canal + International in France, found itself in a difficult situation, for while the National Communication Council is the official media watchdog (regulator) in Cameroon, it was the Ministry of Communication that officially issued a license for the French company to install in Cameroon, by creating Canal + Cameroun.
NCC Gets Furious, And Its President Goes Wild
Meanwhile, understandably, there was a lot of disappointment and anger at the National Communication Council, when it was discovered that the Minister of Communication, Rene Emmanuel Sadi, publicly kicked against the suspension of Vision 4 TV by NCC. Worst still, that the minister instead of inviting NCC for a discussion on the issue, rather bypassed the Council and got straight to Canal + Cameroun, with an order that the signal of Vision 4 TV should be reactivated. This thus meant that the minister instructed Canal + Cameroun, not to respect the decision that was taken by the extraordinary session of NCC, sanctioning Vision 4 TV.
The National Communication Council got the more furious, when Canal + Cameroun respected the instruction of the Minister of Communication by reinstating the signal of Vision 4 TV, without its approval. In the heat of the moment, the President of NCC, Joe Chebongkeng Kalabusu, who is by nature a gentleman, temporary shelved the gentlemanliness, and addressed a no – sense correspondence to the French company Canal + International .
No – Nonsense Correspondence To Canal + International
In a correspondence addressed to the Director of Public Affairs in Francophone Africa at Canal + International Paris, France, dated October 6, 2026, with Ref No. 000413 / CNC / 2026PC / SG / CJ / CEA, the President of the National Communication Council, Joe Chebongkeng Kalabubsu, disclosed that it was on the social media that the Council discovered that Canal + Cameroun, had reactivated the signal of Vision 4 TV in its bouquet. He said the action carried by Canal + to reactivate the signal or Vision 4, was contrary to the NCC decision of September 29, 2026, suspending Vision 4 for one month, and of which the company was duly informed.
The excerpt in French: “ J’ai l’honneur de vous faire connaitre que le Conseil National de la Communication a decouvert, a travers les reseaux sociaux, que vous avez reactive le sigal de la chaine de television nommee en objet, contre disant de ce fait la recommendation qui avait ete formulae quelques jour avant, en application d’une decision formelle du CNC a l’encontre de ce media”.
NCC Is Not Under MINCOM
Meanwhile, the President of the National Communication Council, Joe Chebongkeng, in the correspondence said he assumed that the unilateral decision that Canal + Cameroun took to reactivate the signal of Vision TV, was influenced by an instruction that NCC discovered in the social media, just like it was also in the social media that the Council discovered that Canal + had reactivated the signal of Vision TV. The President of NCC said he wanted Canal + International to know that NCC was the same like ARCOM in France. He said NCC is an Independent Administrative Authority in charge of the regulation of the media in Cameroon, and is not under the Ministry of Communication.
The excerpt in French: “En supposant que cette action, menee uinlateralement, vous a ete insipiree par une instruction decouvert par le meme canal que votre acte, il me plait de vous faire connaitre qu’au meme titre que l’ARCOM de France, le CNC est une Autorite Administrative independente de regulation de madias, qui n’est nullement place sous la tutelle du Ministere de la Communication”.
Demand That Canal + Withdraws Signal Of Vision 4 TV From Its Bouquet
Meanwhile, in conclusion, the President of NCC, Joe Chebongkeng, demanded that Canal + should immediately withdraw or take out the signal of Vision 4 from its bouquet. The NCC President warned that failure by Canal + to do that, the Council will be obliged to take note of the of the company’s defiant act, and reserve the right to take measures within its competence, against the company.
The excerpt in French: “Eu egard a tout ce qui precede, je vous demande a nouveau, sans delai, de retire le signal de ‘Vision 4’ de votre bouquet de programmes, faute de quoi le Conseil se verra oblige de prente acte de votre defiance, en se reservant le droit d’actionner les mesures reglementaire relevant de sa competence”
It should be noted that the President of NCC did not copy the Ministry of Communication commonly known by the acronym, MINCOM. In fact no institution was copied.
MINCOM Did Copy NCC, But – – – –
In the correspondence addressed to the Director of Public Affairs in Francophone Africa at Canal + International Paris, France on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, the President of NCC, Joe Chebongkeng Kalabubsu, said the Council only discovered the correspondence which the Minister of Communication , Rene Emmanuel Sadi ,addressed to the General Manager of Canal + Cameroun on Friday, October 2 , 2026 in the social media. Normally this would be understood to mean that a copy of the minister’s correspondence was not sent to the NCC, or that the Council was not copied.
However it is clearly indicated in the correspondence of the minister, that the National Communication Council was copied. If NCC did not receive the copy of the correspondence, it meant that the person at MINCOM, who was supposed to take the copy of the correspondence to NCC, did not do so, which is a serious issue.
