18. 11. 2005

RTS CHARGE UPSETS COMPANIES

BELGRADE, November 18, 2005 – The Belgrade daily Glas javnosti received yesterday a great number of copies of TV subscription bills delivered to numerous legal entities in Serbia, and as many complaints over the telephone. RTS general director Aleksandar Tijanic confirmed yesterday to the daily that the bills were indeed genuine, not forges. He also said that, under the provisions of the law, the state television had started to charge TV subscription from the legal entities in Serbia. Just two days ago, when the daily asked Tijanic about the bill which was delivered to a Belgrade company, with RTS logo and VAT number and specified date of payment, November 21, he said it was forged. However, Tijanic said he had misunderstood the question, thinking he was asked about the subscription bill for the households, and politely referred to the acting director of TV Belgrade Aleksandar Avramovic for further and more precise information. Avramovic said the TV subscription was envisaged by the Broadcast Act in 2002, and should have started on January 31, 2003. However, the collection of subscription was postponed due to the fact that the Broadcast Agency or the Council had not yet been formed. The real conditions for subscription charge were created with the adoption of the amendments to the Broadcast Act, enforced on September 3, 2005. Avramovic explained that there were three categories envisaged to pay TV subscription – households, legal entities with the exception of hotels and motels as specific category, and car owners that have TV receivers in their cars. “The technical conditions for collection of TV subscription from the companies were met earlier, so we started charging them first”, said Avramovic. According to Avramovic, the law provides that the national television charges the private entities while the Electric Power Industry of Serbia is authorized to collect the subscription from the households, by the agreement signed with RTS. TV Smederevo was also delivered a bill which charged them for three TV subscriptions. This television station, which employs 51 people, claims there was no prior notice of the commencement of TV subscription charge. The daily received claims from several hundred people from Serbia complaining they had never been informed that the subscription would start earlier than December. They said they expected the subscription would be charged together with the electricity bills. Some companies, which employ only few people, also received their TV subscription bills. The Belgrade Association of Contractors was charged for the subscription even though there was no TV receiver on the premises. These unclear provisions thus created a real chaos, which would be only intensified with the complaints coming from a large number of companies. It is still uncertain how the subscription would be collected from the big enterprises and companies such as Oil Company of Serbia and how much they would have to pay. RTS has already secured funds for this year from the budget, but has also already started to collect TV subscription despite not being transformed into a public service broadcaster. The transformation has been postponed until March, but, as it seems, the subscription has not. The citizens rightly demand to know what they would be paying – the public service broadcaster of service to them or the television of service to the Government of Serbia. According to the lawyer Tihomir Konstantinovic, there would be a number of appeals to the Serbian Constitutional Court questioning the legality of the unclear provisions.