01. 04. 2013

TIJANIC: BUDGET FINANCING IS COERCED SOLUTION

Belgrade, April 1, 2013 (Danas) - The announced ending of TV subscription fee and beginning of RTS financing from the state budget is a coerced solution that puts commercial media in some kind of favoring position.

Because of this, RTS will be forced to sack around 1000 workers and reduce our program production, said RTS General Manager Aleksandar Tijanic.

RTS financing only with state budget funds is not a functional solution, as the collection of TV subscription fee has come down to only Belgrade and Novi Sad, and "it is unrealistic to expect these two cities to support the entire country of 8 million people", Tijanic said.

According to him, like TV subscription fee has its bad sides, so does the financing with budget funds, primarily in limiting its function and influence, as well as giving advantage to commercial media.

"If RTS gets 60 million Euros from the state, and earns another 20 million from advertising, this adds up to 80 million Euros in total. HRT in Croatia, a country two times smaller than Serbia, gets 240 million Euros. This means their public service broadcasting budget is three times bigger than ours", Tijanic claims.