09. 03. 2012

Five minutes a day per party, with one exception

Belgrade, March 9, 2012 (Danas) - Commercial televisions in Serbia will not be allowed to air paid advertizing slots of political parties during the election campaign from six to nine o'clock in the morning and between 7 and 11 in the evening. The stations will be limited to a maximum of 90 minutes per day of broadcast of this type of program, according to the instructions adopted by the RBA. Radio stations shall abide by this rule applying to TV stations in their morning program, while in the evening, they will be allowed to broadcast political marketing in the period between 3 and 7 p.m.

RBA Council member Goran Pekovic explained that the political parties would have a maximum of 5 minutes a day to present their electoral programs during the campaign. On the other hand, broadcasters are obliged to distinctly mark that type of marketing with specific sound and graphics. According to Pekovic, paid programs could be broadcast in segments of no more than 30 minutes per segment. For example, they could split the allowed 90 minutes for promotional campaigns per day into three half-hour segments each. The live broadcasting of entire conventions and congresses of political parties shall not be allowed.

Concerning the political advertising, it could be incorporated into regular commercial blocks of the station that cannot last longer than 12 minutes per hour for commercial TV and six minutes on the public service broadcasters. Public service broadcasters shall broadcast election programs of all candidates free of charge.

These RRA instructions are binding for local, regional, provincial, parliamentary and presidential elections and for the elections of national minority councils.