11. 09. 2005

TV SUBSCRIPTION IS UNAVOIDABLE

BELGRADE, September 11, 2005 - Will the citizens pay three times for the same television subscription, to be re-introduced in October? Despite the fact that the budget funds for Radio Television Serbia have already been allocated for this year, the amendments to the Broadcast Act envisage financing of the television by subscription. Also, the citizens who watch RTS on the cable would be obliged to pay the impost for the third time. Chairman of the ANEM Managing Board regarded the amendments to the Broadcast Act as unnecessary, saying that the way in which the charge of the subscription would be initiated was illegal and counterproductive and thus provoking negative reaction of the people. "We do not oppose the subscription as a way of financing RTS. We simply do not support its implementation until RTS is transformed into a public service broadcaster. The deadlines envisaged for this procedure have already been broken. There is a theoretical possibility that some citizens would pay for the same TV subscription three times because people do things here in non-transparent way. This is one of the serious problems for people from the Broadcast Council. The citizens have every right to ask why the subscription charge would start in October when the funds for RTS have already been secured from the state budged until the end of the year. They would certainly see this as if one is putting one's hand in their pockets for the second time, while they still do not have the public service broadcaster that would answer to their needs but the television whose managing board continues to be appointed by the government and not by the Broadcast Agency and its council. The citizens would once pay for the subscription as the tax payers, second time as subscribers, while for the whole time they are threatened with sanctions in case they fail to pay, even by certain members of the Council. All this was really unnecessary and not a good way to resolve the issue. Many issues have been raised, such as where does the money for the transition fund comes from, the money which would help financing of RTS until the regular and substantial subscription is established. Also, it is not clear whether those expenses are within the planned budget or additional costs. Further, it is not defined what would the citizens get for that money", said Stojsic. President of the Association of Independent Serbian Journalists (IJAS) Nebojsa Bugarinovic said that the transformation of RTS into a public service was not the only problem, but also the fact that it took 6 to 12 months to establish regular and steady charge of subscription in other countries in transition. "It took a lot of time to reach the 70 percent of charge for the public service broadcaster to work without the constant concern that it would stay without the financial sources. Exactly this could happen to us as well, which of course would not be good for RTS or people. Again, we are not against the subscription as the main means of financing of the public service, since that solution is adopted by the whole Europe. Even the citizens of more regulated European countries have opposed the introduction of subscription, which is quite understandable", said Bugarinovic. Bugarinovic also explained that a public service broadcaster needs to include educational and other non-commercial contents in its offer. Naturally, public service broadcaster has also certain duties, not only rights. Nino Brajovic, president of the Association of Serbian Journalists (JAS) said that this professional association agrees with the solution to implement the subscription charge from October this year, but only under condition to take the matter seriously and to start the process of transition of RTS into a public service. "It is the only thing where we differ from the IJAS and ANEM. Now, the only question that should be raised here is who would say that RTS has become the public service broadcaster and at which point. It does not necessarily mean that the appointment of the new managing board and management of the station would automatically bring us the public service broadcasters. Its program quality that matters and whether the program management would be able to do their job successfully. Formal transformation of the station into a public service broadcaster does not imply that it really is. That is why we believe that this process needs to be hastened, with the subscription charge at the same time, as the Act provides. The deadline for transformation, March 31, 2006, is not preclusive and obligatory. Even before the amendments to the Broadcast Act this deadline has been already broken. We however share the opinion of our colleagues from IJAS that these amendments were unnecessary. On the other hand, the question of how the subscription will be charged remains - will it be through one or two bills. Under the Act, the charge should be entrusted to one of the public companies, most probably Electric Power Industry of Serbia (EPS). If the subscription is to be charged separately, the thing would be much clearer then. However, if this is to be one bill, then we have to deal with the problem of socially endangered categories of citizens", Brajovic concluded.