30. 08. 2005

"RTS LAW" PASSED

BELGRADE, August 30, 2005 (B92) – Parliament adopted proposed amendments to the Broadcasting Law. Democratic Party and Serbian Radical Party voted against the government's proposal, while 128 representatives voted for the proposal. Amendments to the Broadcasting Law provide for introduction of a TV subscription. In other words, if amendments to the law are adopted, citizens of Serbia will have to pay a subscription for RTS together with their electricity bills. According to the Minister of Culture Dragan Kojadinovic, the subscription will amount to 300 dinars. On the other side, final amount of TV subscription has not been established yet. Although the Electric Power Industry of Serbia and Electrical Distribution voiced their protests because tying subscription and electricity bills might put EPS' revenues at danger, Kojadinovic does not expect problems, saying that RTS will have a separate transfer bank account. He believes that this method of payment is most convenient because all citizens have electricity, while not everyone pays for communal services or telephone. Aside from subscription, amendments to the Broadcasting Law specified an extension of the deadline for transformation of national radio television, as well as local broadcasters. Roles of certain members of the republic Broadcasting Council are also changed. According to the proposal, a right to veto which belonged to Vojvodina's representative in the Council is to be withdrawn. Tijanic: If you mess with “Dnevnik”, you are involved in politics Director of RTS Aleksandar Tijanic accused B92, BK and Pink of involvement in politics because their news programmes overlap with national TV's “Dnevnik”. “Commercial stations have a right to compete with RTS, but if you make news programme at 19:30, that's politics”, said Tijanic. “They know that they can't beat RTS. Their aim is to decrease our ratings for a point or two. This is a joint project by TV BK, B92 and Pink. They have prolonged their news shows for an hour trying to overcome RTS, which they didn't dare to do during Milosevic's or Djindjic's rule. I believe there is someone who is planning the future of Serbia and doesn't want RTS to be most influential. But even in a situation like this “Dnevnik” has twice the ratings of all other stations combined”, said Tijanic in an interview with Vecernje novosti.