02. 04. 2011

Law holds remote controler

RBA to start issuing licenses for cable operators

Belgrade, April 2, 2011. (Vecernje Novosti) - There are 79 cable operators in Serbia and they provide 430 programs in total.  However, it is not rare that they decide to stop providing some channels or introduce programs in languages that are not widely used in Serbia.  

The Republic Broadcasting Agency will start issuing licenses to cable operators that have already applied and submitted the required documentation to RBA. For the first time, cable operators will be obliged to possess broadcasting licenses as well as the approval for broadcasting channels within their offer.

- RATEL has been issuing the work licenses to them up to now, but it has not controlled the program broadcast via cable. Now, when they submit the program plan and receive license by RBA, the operators would not be able to arbitrarily change the content that they provide. Each change should be approved by RBA - Goran Karadzic, Vice President of the RBA Council, said. Cable TVs will be required to obey the same principles as TVs with terrestrial local and national frequencies, including copyright and regulations in the field of advertizing.