07. 02. 2011

Tender for live broadcasting of the National Assembly sessions

Belgrade,  February 7, 2011 (Politika) - Which TV station will broadcast the National Assembly sessions live, will be known in the beginning of March, says Veljko Odalovic, the Serbian Parliament Secretary. According to him, the public call for interested candidates was open on January 14 and will close on February 14, by when the stations interested in broadcasting of the sessions could take the tender documentation.

Odalovic says there have been a plenty of inquiries: "All they, including RTS and B92, have been interested in the tender conditions, but it has been for the information purposes only". Having been asked if he believed that the condition for a TV station providing this service should have been a national frequency and good nation coverage, Odalovic says: "Specific conditions are to be defined, but I believe it would be so, because the Parliament is the highest law-making body and as many as possible citizens should be enabled to be informed on its work".

In the budget of the Assembly, 80 million RSD, that is around 747.000 EUR was allocated for the costs of broadcasting the Assembly sessions. This service was carried out by the RTS for free, but there have been disputes over the payments. Aleksandar Tijanic, the RTS Director, had previously announced that the Parliament owed 3,3 million EUR for this service, while the Parliament gave the information that there had not been any contract and that the Government had to find a solution.