05. 04. 2006

LIST OF CANDIDATES

BELGRADE, April 5, 2005 – A dozen television stations are competing for Serbia’s five national frequencies, the Serbian Broadcast Council said. The broadcasters approved by the Agency for the national frequencies competition are TV Avala, B92, BK, Kosava, MTS, Pink, Pro TV, Sigma television, TV 5, Fox Television, Happy TV and CME SR TV. The companies disqualified from entering the tender due to the failure to comply with the legal or other prerequisites are the European RTL’s Serbian branch for having foreign majority owners, TV A for not paying the deposit, IBC for having a 100 percent of state capital and Politika, for many reasons. According to the reports of many Serbian media, the decision of the Broadcast Agency not to accept the application of RTL was brought after the intervention of the Culture Minister Dragan Kojadinovic. Kojadinovic however denied any involvement of the Ministry in the issue, saying that the Ministry just forwarded its recommendation and interpretation of the legal provisions on the ownership structure of broadcaster competing for the frequency. “The Broadcast Agency is competent for such decision on RTL and that’s the address where you should look for an explanation. If there are any problems in the ownership structure of a broadcaster under the provision of the law on the companies with no more than 49 percent of the foreign ownership, then it is a problem of the founders of those companies competing, not the Culture Ministry or the Agency”, Kojadinovic said. Chief Editor of RTL’s Serbian branch Maja Divac said the list of candidates announced by the Broadcast Agency Council did not necessarily mean that RTL was out of the race for national frequencies. According to Divac, RTL sees this as a big mistake and misinterpretation of the law. RTL will do everything possible in line with the provisions of the law to persuade the Broadcast Agency that it had made “a wrong assessment” and bring the broadcaster back in the race. Nine radio stations are competing for the national radio frequencies – Kiss FM, Pro FM, B92, Index, Radio S, Fokus, Roadstar, Sigma FM and TDI. The applications of YU Radio, Radio MIP, Radio Politika, Radio Novosti, Radio Flash, Radio Grad and BS FM have been rejected out of various reasons (more than 49 percent of foreign capital, a 100 percent state ownership, deposit unpaid by the due date and so on). TV Panonija, Most and Super from Subotica are bidding for the Vojvodina frequencies, while 6 TV broadcasters are in running for the coverage of Belgrade territory – Art, Enter, Kosava, SOS, Metropolis, Most, Palma, Plus and Studio B.