21. 01. 2006

FEES TOO HIGH

BELGRADE, January 21, 2006 – Both radio and television program broadcasters agreed the payment rates for the use of frequencies, adopted yesterday by the Serbian Government, were too high. Representative of the Association of Professional Broadcasters of Serbia (APRES) Zoran Mihajlovic said the broadcasting fee for radio stations was too high and that it needed to be revised, adding the fee for television program broadcasting was more or less real. “TV broadcasting fee is reasonably balanced. However the provisions of the Broadcast Act envisaging the proportion 1:5 for the use of radio and TV frequencies is not at all real. According to the Act, if the price for one second of the TV commercial is five dinars, it means it would be 1 dinar for the radio. However, in reality, the rental of advertising space on the radio is much lower than that, with the proportion 1:20. Based on this, APRES will propose the amendment of the Broadcast Act for correction of the fees for the radio. We will also insist that, throughout all stages of competitions for national and regional frequency allocation, this rate should be 1:20, which could later drop down to 1:10, in relation to the television fees”, said Mihajlovic, who was also the member of the team drafting the Broadcast Development Strategy. Mihajlovic also noted that the two regulatory bodies – the Broadcast Agency and Telecommunications Agency – showed readiness to take the suggestions of the broadcasters into consideration and find a compromise. According to Mihajlovic, it is in everyone’s interest to bring order into the broadcast sphere and to enable those who produce and broadcast good quality program to sustain on the market. “Media is among five most profitable businesses in the world, and media owners in Serbia must understand that and agree to compromise if it means “enough order and enough profit”, said Mihajlovic. According to the price list proposed by the Government, the annual fee for the use of frequencies for local media on the territory of Belgrade would be 12.146.761 dinars for television and 2.429.352 dinars for radio program, payable in 12 monthly installments. This price list includes the fee for the use of frequency, that is, broadcasting license, and fee for technical license for the use of the transmitter.