24. 07. 2005

MILLIONS OF EUROS FOR RTS

BELGRADE, July 24, 2005 – The Serbian Parliament will debate on the proposed amendments to the Broadcast Act which would allow RTS to collect subscription before its transformation into a public service broadcaster. Chairman of the Broadcast Agency Council Nenad Cekic said that the TV subscription would be charged as of September 1, 2005, most probably through the power bill. Cekic also said that the monthly subscription would be 300 dinars per household if it has a TV receiver, and 600 dinars paid with registration for vehicles with radio sets. Introduction of subscriptions will limit the advertising space on RTS. However, regardless of their opinion, the citizens will have to pay subscription. Simple calculation shows that RTS would get at least 600 million dinars a month from the subscriptions (7.2 million Euros a month and almost 90 million Euros a year, beside the income from advertising).