02. 04. 2013

WORKING GROUP AGAINST ABOLISHING TV FEE

Belgrade, April 2, 2013 (Danas) - The group working on the Draft Law on Electronic Media has not yet received the decision in writing of the First Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic whether the TV subscription fee would be abolished and RTS financed from the state budget funds in the period of three years, the daily Danas reports.

If such decision is made final, according to unofficial information, the working group will distance itself by making it clear it was the sole decision of the Serbian Government.

Members of the Working Group is opposing the concept of direct financing of RTS from the budget, proposing that the TV subscritpion fee be paid as before, with electricity bills. They suggested that the deal should be made with EPS so that the electricity bill would be impossible to pay excluding the TV fee. The final decision, however, will depend on of Sandra Basic Hrvatin, an European Commission expert, who is visiting Belgrade on the occasion of consultations regarding new media laws;

Namely, at the meeting with the Culture Minister Bratislav Petkovic, his assistant Dragan Kolarevic and the OSCE representatives, First Deputy Prime Minister Vucic notified all present that the TV subscription fee should be abolished and RTS financed with budget funds for the period of three years. This position of the First Deputy Prime Minister was then conveyed by Kolarevic to the members of the working group, drafting the Law on Electronic Media.

At the same meeting, Vucic had made an official decision to give up the concept of establishing regional public service broadcasting in Serbia, although it was not forseen by the Draft Law on Public Information or the working version of the Law on Electronic Media.