Novi IFEX-ov izvještaj o stanju medija - Srbija i Crna Gora

03.02.2006.

 ANEM WEEKLY MEDIA UPDATE

January 24-31, 2006

 

LICENCE FEES THREATEN COMMERCIAL BROADCASTING

 

BELGRADE, January 25, 2006 (Beta) - The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) noted that high payment rates for broadcast licenses would seriously threaten to block commercial broadcasting.

 

The Association points out that the competition for the allocation of licenses has been inadequately prepared, despite the fact that there has been more than adequate time. Of particular concern is the level of fees approved by the Serbian Government. 

 

Information obtained by ANEM indicates that the broadcasting fees are as much as ten times the fees for commercial networks with national coverage in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Albania and Croatia.

 

Setting broadcasting fees at such a high level, together with the large number of channels planned, will result in a scramble for ratings at the expense of quality, problems maintaining professional standards already achieved or, at best, stagnation and the collapse of independent positions even of those broadcasters which have managed to preserve their independence in the past, said in the statement of the Association.

 

ANEM urged the Government and the Broadcast Council to reconsider the decisions and acts adopted in recent days.

 

 

FREQUENCY COMPETITION

 

BELGRADE, January 26, 2006 (Beta) - The call for the broadcast licenses competition has been announced in Belgrade daily Politika.

 

The broadcasting system in Serbia should thus be regulated by the beginning of July at the latest, while the competition called by the Broadcast Agency envisages five networks for radio and TV program broadcasting on the territory of Serbia, one radio and TV network for program broadcasting on the territory of Vojvodina and six networks for TV and 14 for radio program broadcasting in Belgrade region.

 

The stations have 60 days for sending applications and requested documentation for the competition.

 

The Broadcast Agency will announce the list of all applicants within 7 days after the envisaged date for applications, that is, by the beginning of April. The Agency will decide on the applications within 90 days (beginning of July).

 

The application form for the competition can be issued at the offices of the Broadcast Agency or downloaded from the Agency's official website.

 

 

TV 5 GOES NATIONAL

 

BELGRADE, January 26, 2006 (Blic) - The competition for the use of licenses for radio and TV program broadcasting, announced yesterday, envisages five networks for national coverage.

 

The list of candidates for the national frequencies (it is expected that the number of the stations applying would be bigger than 5), will surely include the Belgrade-based TV stations RTV Pink, RTV BK, RTV B92 as well as the TV 5 from Nis.

 

It is still uncertain what license will Belgrade TV station Studio B apply for. TV Panonija, more and more popular and viewed station in Vojvodina, have not yet decided on the competition saying there is still enough time, given that the competition has just been announced.

 

The competition envisages two months period for submitting applications, after which the Broadcast Agency would have three months to decide on received applications.

 

The stations that have already confirmed their participation in the competition, Pink, BK and TV 5, claim they have met all technical and other requirements and expect to be successful, if the competition is fair.

 

Current director of the RTV BK Telecom Bojana Lekic however says the license fees for national broadcasting (sixty million dinars) are too high.

According to her, the payment rates are more applicable to the most developed, Scandinavian countries.

 

The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) also warned of the astronomical fees. In its statement, the Association noted they were several times higher than in the countries from the region.

 

According to the information obtained by ANEM, the fees for commercial stations with national coverage in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Albania or Croatia are even ten times lower, said in the statement of the professional association.

 

However, Aleksandar Vasic from the Broadcast Agency claims it is not exactly the case. For example, in Croatia and Macedonia, the stations also pay concession beside the license, so it all adds up to the approximately same amount as the proposed fee in Serbia, says Vasic.

 

Vasic also said Radio Television Serbia had the license as the public service broadcaster and did not need to compete for the license or to pay the fee.

 

 

LOCALS WEIGHING UP

 

BELGRADE, January 26, 2006 (Dnevnik) - The call for public competition for frequency licenses has been announced yesterday.

 

The competition was prepared in line with the Broadcast Act, brought on July 18, 2002 by the Serbian Parliament.

 

The competition envisages five national frequencies for five TV and radio stations on the territory of Serbia, one TV and radio station for broadcasting on the territory of Vojvodina, and 6 TV and 14 radio stations on the territory of Belgrade region.

 

All interested to apply for the national frequency license will have 60 days to submit their applications, after which the Broadcast Agency will decide on the successful candidates within 90 days.

 

According to the competition requirements, the applicants must submit their technical, organizational and program documentation, together with 15 million dinars of deposit for TV stations or 300.000 dinars for radio stations for program broadcasting in Belgrade region.

 

There are currently more than a few private TV and radio stations that cover the territory of the Province - RTV Delta, TV Most, TV Super, TV Panonija, TV Melos, TV Metropolis, TV Santos, TV Bap, TV Pancevo, Sremska TV, TV Spektar, TV Kosava, TV Art and others. The number of radio stations covering Vojvodina is much higher, given the fact that over 50 radio programs can be heard on the frequency scale from 88 to 108 MHz, even though the majority of them broadcast program outside Novi Sad.

 

As the director of TV Most Dusan Bajatovic told the Belgrade daily, this station will compete for program broadcasting in Vojvodina as well as Belgrade region.

 

"I was surprised with the offer for the frequency in Vojvodina; however, I still think the fee is too high for any commercial television station that currently broadcasts in this region. According to my latest information, 23 million dinars a year need to be secluded for the working permit, but, beside this, a station also needs to establish the network of transmitters within 60 days in order to meet all the requirements for the competition.

 

Naturally, this is an additional investment. I believe that currently none of the commercial stations currently broadcasting on the territory of Vojvodina can compete under such conditions. TV Most will also run for the territory of Vojvodina and Belgrade. We have engaged an expert team to rapidly produce a detailed analysis of the actual costs. Then we will see if the competition for this coverage is worthwhile and what frequency we will compete for", said Bajatovic.

 

TV Panonija director Zoran Andric claims it is too early to decide what frequency this station will apply for.

 

"The only good thing is that, three and a half years after the adoption of the Broadcast Act, the competition for the frequency licenses has been finally announced, and I truly believe it will bring some order into this media chaos at last. We could not function in unregulated conditions such as these. I also think the fee for the use of frequencies is more or less realistic, but, on the other hand, we have only 60 days to decide if its worth our while or not", Andric said.

 

Even the director of TV Super Velimir Kostadinov could not give more precise details of whether this station from Subotica would compete for the frequency.

 

"We have enough time to make the thorough analysis and estimation of what it would mean to our TV station. One thing is sure - we are currently the most equipped and technically the most modern station, with the ratings that put us among the top ten TV stations. We have thus met all the requirements of the competition so we won't rush with our decision", said Kostadinov, adding however that the payment rate for the frequency license was not at all low.

 

The frequency competition also foresees one frequency for the radio station on the territory of Vojvodina, for which the station would need to pay

4.555.035 dinars.

 

Radio Sajam will, most likely, decide to "skip" this round of the competition for frequencies.

 

Chief-editor Marijeta Lazor said this radio station had all aspirations for the regional coverage, but it first needed to produce a business plan and analysis of all options, possibilities and costs, in order to decide which frequency the station would apply for.

 

"Of course, the competition will finally regulate the broadcasting sphere, which is really a good thing, by giving the broadcast licenses only to those outlets which comply with all the technical and technological conditions for program broadcasting. After the analysis which would give us the real picture of necessary expenses and taxes, we will make our decision; however, it is less likely that we will compete in the first round. The station will probably apply for the second round of the competition, when licenses will be issued for regional and local frequencies", said Lazor.

 

According to the director of the Novi Sad-based Radio 021 Slobodan Stojsic, the payment rates will certainly create problems for many of the competing stations.

 

"There is no such thing as luck in the radio broadcasting business. The market is rather small, where one radio station can get only 4 percent from advertising, in comparison to TV stations which earn 80 percent. It is very hard to survive in cruel conditions such as these, particularly for the socially responsible radio stations, like Radio 021. It is even harder with fees so high. The conduct expenses are enormous, especially for the informative programs, so the station must turn to the total commercialization in order to survive. It's needless to say how essential the informative programs and stations are to this society", Stojsic noted.

 

The call for the applications will last 60 days, after which the applications will be assessed. The time envisaged for this is 90 days, and the whole procedure is expected to end by the end of April. The licenses will be issued for the period of eight years.

 

The Broadcast Agency Council deputy chairman Aleksandar Vasic denied the claims that the fees in other countries in the region were lower, saying that they rather had two types of fees for the broadcast licenses.

 

"One fee includes the regulation, while the other is a direct concession for the national goods, set by the state. Our legislation has not foreseen this, so the fee for broadcast licenses incorporates the concession", Vasic explained.

 

 

15 MILLION DEPOSIT FOR TV, 1.5 MILLION FOR RADIO

 

BELGRADE, January 26, 2006 (Pregled) - The stations that intend to compete for the national frequencies at the recently announced competition for the use of licenses for radio and TV program broadcasting in Serbia, are required to meet technical, organizational and program criteria and to submit all necessary documentation within 60 days.

 

The technical criteria include the inventory of the studio equipment and their technical parameters that guarantee the program quality.

 

The competitors are also required to submit the constructional documentation, that is, blueprints of the business premises, all obtained licenses, contracts for program broadcasting if any, as well as all other relevant documentation.

 

These conditions are applicable for all stations that broadcast their program in the time of the competition announcement, published in Belgrade daily Politika. The general organizational criteria envisage, among other things, the Founding Act of the legal entity, the official document of the taxation office on the classification of the legal entity, station's status, collective agreement or Work Regulations, company's work systematization, detailed structure of staff members or persons engaged only as external associates, and name of the authorized representative of the applicant.

 

Furthermore, the applicants must comply with the legal criteria, which envisage the submission of the evidence of the applicant's registration extract from the Register, details about all identified owners or co-owners of the applying company, as well as the certified statement of the applicant declaring that the illegal media concentration will not be created by eventual license issuing.

 

The financial conditions envisage that the applicants that currently broadcast their program must submit all financial reports with the total balance and annual financial report, proof of having settled all duties associated with the copyright and related rights and contracts made with the bearers of those rights, as well as the valid commercial contracts for buying and selling advertising space, sponsorship etc.

 

It is also necessary to provide the statement from the authorized bank on the deposit payment, (15 million dinars for TV program broadcast on national level and 1.5 million dinars for the radio stations that will compete for program broadcasting on national frequency). For program broadcasting in Vojvodina region, TV stations are required to pay 5.5 million, while the deposit for radio stations is 500.000 dinars. The deposit for broadcasting TV program in the Belgrade region is 3 million, and for radio program 300.000 dinars.

 

The deposit is paid on the nominated account of the Broadcast Agency's in the Atlas bank (125-1920-62).

 

The applicants that do not broadcast their program in the moment of competition announcement should provide the report on the projected revenues and expenses with the detailed specification, details of their financial potentials, financial warranty totaling the annual fee for the use of the right for program broadcasting (for television stations) or the minimal six months fee for the use of right to broadcast program on the radio.

 

The applicants must also comply with the program criteria which envisage the submission of the detailed concept of program scheme, respecting the minimal program standards foreseen by the Broadcast Act. The applicants that currently broadcast their program must also provide the agreement on the respect and protection of copyright and related rights, signed with the relevant organisation. It is necessary to state the full name of the program chief editor, or the list of all editors in charge.

 

The conditions for obtaining the broadcast license are also envisaged by the Telecommunications Act and regulations, which include the agreement with the appropriate design organisation or authorized designer in line with the valid national rules for procreation of technical documentation.

 

 

LOWER FEES FOR BROADCASTERS

 

BELGRADE, January 27, 2006 (Danas) - The announcement of the public competition for the issuing of national frequencies and program broadcasting in Belgrade and Vojvodina region was accompanied with the reactions of the professional associations objecting to the payment rates proposed for the program broadcasting.

 

While the Association of Professional Broadcasters of Serbia (APRES) claimed the "television rates were more or less realistic", the Association of Independent Electronic Media expressed concern over the destiny of commercial radio and television stations due to extremely high fees.

 

Although the members of the Broadcast Agency Council claimed they would not issue any comment during the competition which might upset the procedure, the Council Deputy Chairman Aleksandar Vasic said the objections to the payment rates were not entirely reasonable.

 

ANEM recently stated that "the competition for broadcast license issuing had not been adequately prepared, although there was enough time for that", emphasizing the problem which could be created by the set high rates, approved by the Serbian Government. The association also stated the rates were even ten times higher than those in other countries in the region.

 

"Representatives of all media associations had a chance to object at the meetings held in the Broadcast Agency, when the price list for program broadcasting was proposed. What ANEM is claiming now is only partly true, since we talk about two different models of payment. For example, according to the model in Croatia, the fee is indeed lower than in Serbia, but Croatian broadcasters pay another type of VAT, that is, 0.54 percent of their total gross income paid to the state as concession. According to Croatian laws, the frequency is regarded as state's concession. The similar case is in Macedonia as well", said Vasic.

 

Vasic also said the Broadcast Act in Serbia provided that the broadcasting fee included technical costs and costs of the regulatory body, i.e. the Broadcast Agency, while the surplus went directly to the national budget.

 

"Article 34 of the Broadcast Act provides these funds to be used for the cultural development, education and health", Vasic added.

 

Vasic noted that, under the Act, Radio Television Serbia was not required to pay the use of frequency as a public service broadcaster, which was financed by the TV subscription paid by the citizens. In light of this, Vasic concluded, the public service broadcaster also had a limited advertising space.

 

One day after the official announcement of the public competition, the Chairman of the Broadcast Council Nenad Cekic revealed the possibility that the broadcasting fees might have been lower than those envisaged by the Agency and adopted by the Serbian Government last week.

 

According to Cekic, the initiative would be launched to amend the provisions of the Broadcast Act, which envisaged that the broadcasters pay one fifth of the price proposed for TV stations for the license for broadcasting, and technical licenses for transmitters. Cekic confirmed that the fees were too high, "since the radio stations participate only 4 percent in the total turnover of advertising revenues".

 

However, according to the chief editor of the magazine Satelit TV Dragutin Markovic, TV stations that did not get the broadcast license in the competition, or, on the other hand, thought the license was too expensive, they would have the option of airing their program via satellite instead of using the frequency. This way, all users of cable system or satellite dishes would become potential viewers of those television stations' programs, and all current terrestrial channels will practically become satellite-cable channels.

 

"Every owner of the cable system will be obliged to have a valid contract with the owner of the program or TV station whose program he re-broadcasts, regardless of whether those programs are free of charge or are paid for. The Broadcast Agency will have to request from all cable operators a list of all TV stations in their offer, as well as the copies of the contracts made with those media outlets", said Markovic.

 

Markovic also noted that the biggest cable operators in Serbia relied on this option of broadcasting program of so-called "small television stations".

 

"Serbian Broadband" and Telecom will soon launch their digital packages via satellite which will, among other things, enable them to offer to TV stations their already rented transponder on the satellite. This will give those stations a chance to get in the package with the option to broadcast on eight to ten channels. This way, small TV stations will be viewed by all users of satellite antennas or cable TV subscribers. Hypothetically speaking, this way, TV Galaksija could get hundreds of thousand viewers", Markovic said.

 

Povratak