03. 01. 2012

UNIQUE BILL FOR ALL TV BROADCASTERS

Belgrade, January 3, 2012 (Politika) - Overdue notices for late payments of TV fee of RTS have been lately delivered to the addresses of citizens' households with their electricity bills. The overdue reminders are notices before instigating legal proceedings against citizens for their outstandings debts for TV fee, stipulated by the Broadcasting Law.

It is not disputable that citizens are violating the law when they fail to pay the fee, but it is also more than clear that this way, the Public Service Broadcaster will not fill its pockets. More and more citizens refuse to pay the TV fee, out of a range of reasons. Either way, the government could pass a legal act for authorizing its competent body - Republic Broadcasting Agency (RBA) - to regulate the obligations of cable TV providers that transmit programs of RTS, so that the TV fee, being a legal obligation, would be charged over the cable TV bills. This would be more realistic and logical than associating the TV fee with the electricity bills. Otherwise, until the Broadcasting Law is amended, the citizens might as well move to a deserted island, pull up a tent, buy batteries for portable radio and TV set and be clean before the law.