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28. 07. 2014

Media privatization by 2015

Belgrade, 28.7.2014 (Tanjug) - Media bills that the Serbian government has adopted envisage that the media privatization will be completed by July 1, 2015, the subscription charges for public service broadcasters will be scrapped, and they will be financed through a license fee as of 2016, State Secretary at the ministry of culture and information Sasa Mirkovic told Tanjug.

On Sunday, the government adopted the bill on public information and media, bill on electronic media and bill on public service broadcasters. MPs will consider the bills on Tuesday, as required by the government.

The bill on public information and media will define the state's exit from the media sector, and the privatization will be completed by July 1, 2015, Mirkovic told Tanjug.

"This law will contribute to making the ownership structure more transparent," he said.

For the first time, Serbia will get the law on public service broadcasters - RTS and RTV. Their operations will be financed by the way of license fees which will not exceed RSD 500, Mirkovic said, underscoring that RTS and RTV have the absolute freedom of reporting,

The subscription charges will be scrapped when the laws come into force, and as of January 1, 2016 citizens will pay the license fee, while, in the meantime, these two broadcasters will be financed from the budget.

The subscription charges are not the same as the license fees, they had some downsides, Mirkovic said, noting that the system of fees has been devised in the way to show that it is possible to finance public service broadcasters in this way.

Speaking about the bill on electronic media, Mirkovic said that it is a prerequisite for digitization that should be completed by June 17 next year and brought in line with the EU's acquis.

Responding to the criticism over the decision to rush the set of media bills through parliament, Mirkovic stressed that the fact that the media strategy was delivered three years ago, that relevant authorities have worked on the bills for quite a while, and that the ministry of culture and information received positive feedback at the public debate that was held last year.

Noting that 1,320 media outlets are registered with the Business Registers Agency, 81 of which are the media that should be privatized, Mirkovic said that this illustrates that there are much more private media in the market that are trying to survive.

Mirkovic said that, after 11 years, Serbia will finally get the set of new reform laws on the media.