02. 04. 2013

EU AGAINST BUDGET FINANCING OF RTS

Belgrade, April 2, 2013 (Blic) - The Draft Law on Electronic Media will surely not include the provision providing for RTS' financing only from the state budget. The working group preparing the media laws has not yet decided whether this document will contain some of the proposed financing models for RTS, or will instead be left upon the government to make a decision that will suit it the most.

Ending the TV subscription fee and introducing the budget financing of RTS as a permanent solution is opposed by both the OSCE Mission to Serbia and European Commission, but they would take their official position when the Draft Law is publicly presented. One thing is for sure, though, they will insist on the editorial and management independence of the public service broadcasting institution, which would definitely be jeopardized with the introduction of budget financing of RTS.

ANEM President Sasa Mirkovic believes revenues from TV subscription fee should not be easily thrown away.

"A model combining TV subscription fee with additional funds from the budget would be the best. It is much more important that spending money in the public service broadcasting be transparent", Mirkovic said.

The working group will decide what the draft law would include by the beginning of the next week. According to Rade Veljanovski, member of the group, the most realistic option would be the model combining two methods of financing.