RUSSIA
By Laura Belin
In an abrupt turnaround, Eduard Sagalayev, chairman of the state-run network Russian TV (RTR), submitted his resignation to the Kremlin on 10 February, ITAR-TASS reported. The agency said TV journalist Nikolai Svanidze, who currently hosts RTR’s Sunday analytical program “Zerkalo,” is expected to replace Sagalayev. Last week, a group of current and former journalists at the network accused Sagalayev of financial abuses and poor programming decisions at RTR (see OMRI Daily Digest, 4 February 1997). Sagalayev threatened to sue his critics, charging that he accusations were part of a campaign to get him fired.
OMRI Daily Digest, February 10, 1997 (For further news and commentary see this issue’s special section on Sagalayev’s resignation.)
II. Gusinsky to head Media—MOST private company.
Vladimir Gusinsky has resigned as president of one
of Russia’s biggest banks, Most Bank, to take over as chief executive of
the Most group’s media interests, ZAO Media—Most said on Monday.
Media-Most incorporates the Most group’s stakes
in Russia’s independent television channel NTV, the new NTV-Plus satellite
television venture, the Ekho Moskvy radio station, and the Sem Dnei [Seven
Days] publishing house, which issues the Segodnya and Sem Dnei newspapers
and Itogi magazine, it said in a statement.
Gusinsky is one of a group of millionaire bankers
and media powerbrokers who supported President Boris Yeltsin in last year’s
elections.
In a statement on January 27, MOST bank and the
MOST-Group said Gusinsky’s transfer was an “organizational measure in an
attempt to secure public interests in the field of the mass media and to
improve the financial performance of the abovementioned companies.”
“The media market is one of the most promising parts
of Russia’s emerging market,” the statement said, adding that Gusinsky’s
heading the holding aims “to set up a major body for work with the mass
media and to develop national TV and cinema production.”
The document stressed that it was necessary to decentralize
the management of Most Bank and the Most Group both to provide for their
successful performance and in the light of an expansion of the bank’s range
of activity.
Besides, the media holding may avert “a possible
conflict of interests” between the media and some companies comprising
the Most Group, it said.
Gusinsky's decision to move is part of a drive to
draw a greater distinction between the Most group’s media interests and
its other operations in areas such as retailing and real estate, the statement
said.
Boris Khait, president of the Most group’s Spasskiye
Vorota insurance company, will temporarily replace Gusinsky as Most Bank
president.
ITAR-TASS, January 27, 1997
III. Veteran exec Mackin tapped StoryFirst prez.
By Joe Flint
Former Columbia TriStar Television Distribution and
Ellis Communications senior exec Terry Mackin has become president of StoryFirst
Communications.
A privately held U.S. company, StoryFirst
owns and operates CTC, a national TV network which was launched in Russia
last month. It has 74 affiliates on the broadcast side and also co-owns
six radio stations in Russia. In the Ukraine, StoryFirst owns ICTV,
a national network that broadcasts in 44 cities.
It also has a radio station in Kiev. “The
telecommunications industry has quickly become a global business, and,
accordingly, most major communications companies are reshaping their strategic
directions to include international investments such as StoryFirst,” Mackin
said.
He said the company is capitalized with $40 million
in equity, and Morgan Stanley Asset Management is the company’s largest
shareholder.
Mackin most recently was Executive Vice President
and chief operating officer of group owner Ellis Communications, which
was sold last year to Retirement Systems of Alabama for $738 million.
Before that, he was a vice president at CTTD, where he was part of the
sales team distributing off-net sitcoms “Who’s the Boss,” “Married With
Children,” “Designing Women” and “Seinfeld,” as well as first-run talker
“Ricki Lake.”
Daily Variety, January 14, 1997
IV. NTV on a global expansion track.
[Chebotarev] There were recently some fundamental
changes to NTV. You gained access to the full TV broadcasting spectrum
and acquired four satellite communications channels. . . . In other
words, you have expanded in the most “global” sense of the word!
Does that mean as a consequence that your special TV “niche” has expanded
too?
[Malashenko] As for the full spectrum of broadcasting,
from the purely commercial perspective, that is something we may not need.
Where there is airtime in the evening. . . . It is the best airtime
and the time when most advertising money is made. So if we were interested
in that alone, we would stay with it. But the people at NTV do not
want their TV to be merely profitable! First and foremost they want
to produce high-value television!
And for a team that emphasizes news, it is intolerably
hard to be squeezed into the few evening hours that we are allotted.
Events happen round the clock and viewers need to be kept up to date on
everything throughout the day. From a TV perspective we needed to
do this. On the other hand, we have got into debt again and are borrowing
money. But that is inevitable.
As for our satellite project, it really is a big
mess. The fact is that alongside the famous NTV there is also another
TV project called NTV Plus. I am president of both TV companies—wearing
two hats, as it were. Although they are different companies: NTV
Plus is designed to be a satellite channel. Signals from our programs
are transmitted to a satellite and viewers can receive them provided they
have a special "dish" and receiving equipment. They are not dependent
on a collective antenna or on the local TV tower, since the programs are
received directly from the satellite.
We currently have four channels. There are
two film channels for Russian and foreign films, a sports channel and a
music channel. It is a purely commercial project. To a considerable
extent it has been “driven” by Vladimir Gusinsky, the owner of a
controlling stake in NTV and head of the Most Group and Most Bank.
It is known worldwide that satellite TV is a profitable
business. The only question is, how many years does it take for profits
to start flowing in? But when the profits start being made, they
are constant and abundant! They result mainly from monthly subscriptions.
We have been motivated by several different considerations
in this area. If NTV is a news channel, then in the satellite project
we wanted, as it were, to change the relationship between viewer and TV
set. Currently when you watch any ordinary open TV channel—ORT, NTV,
TV—6 or the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company
[VGTRK]—you are dependent as a viewer on the channel’s management, which
has compiled the programming schedule. In these cases we try to guess
what are the most interesting and important things to provide for viewers’
attention.
NTV's expansion set to continue
[Chebotarev] So does that mean NTV has “leapfrogged”
everyone else . . . ? After all, nobody else has these channels yet.
[Malashenko] Yes, in that respect NTV Plus
is indeed a pioneering project and will, I think, continue to be so for
the foreseeable future. Although, of course, other TV companies have
a whole lot of energetic and enterprising people working for them . . .
.
[Chebotarev] Finally, a logical continuation
of what you have said. You have usually done one thing after another,
always made a success of everything, and then changed jobs. Question:
Will Igor Malashenko be staying put this time, or . . . ?
[Malashenko] Don’t get me wrong, because this
is the law of the TV world. I would reiterate that TV is a team business!
Our team’s resources are by no means exhausted, although I would admit
that we are currently working very hard. We are fully on Channel
Four, we are working on the satellite project, and there is already the
prospect of what we are planning to do next . . . . For instance,
if modern data compression technology is used, we could transmit four or
six channels instead of one satellite channel. And so in a year or
two the number of NTV channels could have snowballed. There will
be 16 in the next phase! That, of course, is a lot of growth.
This is very difficult for any organizers or any team to handle.
To say that I would like to be doing something else would be irresponsible,
to say the least. After all, the job is certainly not completed;
in fact it’s only just starting!
Rossiyskiye Vesti, January 16, 1997
V. VGTRK to launch new transmission company.
The Russian government has adopted a proposal by
the All-Russia State TV and Radio Company (VGTRK), in coordination with
the State Property Committee, the Ministry of Communications and the Ministry
of Finance, to establish a public joint-stock company, “RTR-Signal.”
This essentially amounts to the creation by VGTRK,
with the help of investors, of a new up-to-date network for the transmission
of television and radio broadcasts, said Igor Shabdurasulov, head of the
department of culture and information of the governmental apparatus, commenting
on this directive to ITAR-TASS.
He explained that VGTRK currently has a number of
projects which have not been completed because of a lack of state funds.
These are a centre for program production at Shabolovka and a program reception
and transmission station at Klin.
VGTRK is to include these two projects in its start-up
capital. They will be assessed according to the existing practice
of the Russian State Property Committee and will amount to 25.5 percent
of the shares of the future joint-stock company. It is planned to
hold an open tender for Russian and foreign investors to purchase the remaining
74.5 percent.
Igor Shabdurasulov said that the package of 25.5
percent of the shares gives VGTRK the right of veto and allows it to operate
as representative and defender of the interests of the state in the future
project. These percentages will enable representatives of the state
to have a corresponding number of seats on the board of directors of the
joint-stock company.
The government directive also provides for priority
in the transmission of VGTRK programs at the future reception and transmission
center and payment for these services based on the tariffs provided for
state TV and radio companies. At the same time, the new reception
and transmission network will also have a reserve for providing other broadcasters.
Additional treaties will be concluded on other conditions. But all
this is in the future.
The head of the government’s apparatus department
reaffirmed that this decision has no bearing on the change in status of
VGTRK, which was, is and will remain the only all-Russian state television
and radio company. Behind the decision is the fact that VGTRK is
not capable of handling this project by itself. It is well known
that its budget financing this year amounts to 30-40 percent of the planned
figure, but even fewer funds are being allocated for investment.
ITAR-TASS, (World Service), January 3, 1997
VI. New Government Grants for Media.
By Laura Belin
The government has set aside 140 billion rubles ($25 million) to fund media that are judged to be “the most relevant to the public,” RIA-Novosti reported on 29 January, citing Deputy Prime Minister Vitalii Ignatenko. He said 80 billion rubles will go to electronic media, and 60 billion to print media. The names of the grant recipients will be released on 1 April. Izvestiya reported on 30 January that state support for the media in 1996 amounted to only one-quarter of what had originally been budgeted for the purpose; as a result, media outlets were often forced to seek alliances with banks and companies, the paper said.
OMRI Daily Digest, January 30, 1997
VII. Russian TV picture clearing.
By Nick Holdsworth
Russian television is rapidly moving towards a cohesive
national and regional system of professional broadcasting companies enjoying
strong audience and advertising support. In an industry revolutionized
in the past two years with a major shake-up in the approach, ownership
and control of Soviet-era public channels, Russian television is set to
become one of the key emerging European entertainment markets in the coming
year. It has been boosted, too, by a strong boom in regional television
and national upgrading of broadcasting technologies.
With fast growth in all areas, Russian television’s
dynamism is potentially marred by one factor: the development of increasingly
cozy links between national television chiefs, wealthy bankers and businessmen,
and the Kremlin. The emergence of a small cabal of television officials,
financial groups and President Boris Yeltsin is said to be endangering
the independence of national news and current affairs coverage. Critics
say it is echoing the political control of Russian broadcasting under the
Soviet Communist regime and threatens an early end to the honeymoon period
of the last five years, during which broadcasting journalists had enjoyed
unprecedented freedom to report and criticize. But others point out
that no national television network the world over with any element of
public backing is totally independent of government. Television professionals’
recognition of the importance of greater unity on policy issues and less
emphasis on commercial competition is reflected in the rapid growth of
the National Association of Tele-broadcasters, an independent member-funded
industry lobby.
The Moscow-based organization, which was launched
in August 1995 with 41 members—including a core group from the key national
channels, ORT (Russian Public Television), NTV Independent television and
leading regional stations—has more than doubled to 105 members. Radio
Television Russia, the last remaining national public channel to join and
the only completely state-owned broadcaster, came aboard in late October,
just as NAT announced it had joined forces with the Federal Service of
Television and Radio Broadcasting to draft more effective broadcasting
laws.
“Now is the time for television broadcasters to
take the initiative and draft a law that reflects the reality of life today,
stipulating the rules according to which television should be developed,”
Eduard Sagalayev, NAT president and head of RTR, told the organization’s
first anniversary board meeting. International director Natalya Selezneva
said that Nat’s first national congress held earlier this month in Moscow,
which brought together station chiefs from throughout Russia, had discussed
the new draft broadcasting law hammered out by the organization’s working
group of broadcasting lawyers, professionals, and State Duma (Russian Parliament)
deputies and officials.
The Hollywood Reporter, Dec 24, 1996
VIII. Journalists Denounce “War of Compromising Materials.”
By Laura Belin
Leaders of the Union of Journalists adopted a resolution warning the media not to allow “unscrupulous rivals in an ever more ruthless struggle for power” to manipulate journalists through the so-called “war of compromising materials.” The resolution, published in Rossiiskaya gazeta on 7 February, said the media should inform the public about abuses of power by state officials, but claimed that recent publications of scandalous materials had little to do with investigative journalism. Since last summer, Russian newspapers have published numerous documents and transcripts aimed at tarnishing the reputation of controversial political figures. The main targets have been Presidential Chief of Staff Anatolii Chubais, Security Council Deputy Secretary Boris Berezovskii, and former Presidential Security Service head Aleksandr Korzhakov.
OMRI Daily Digest, February, 1997
By Ustina Markus
Aleksandr Stupnikov, NTV correspondent in Belarus, was summoned to the Belarussian Foreign Ministry on February 12 to receive an official warning about NTV’s “non-objective” coverage of events in Belarus. He was informed that the Belarussian Foreign Ministry wrote last week to its Russian counterpart complaining about NTCV’s Belarussian coverage, and warning that if such reporting continued, Belarus would have to consider suspending NTV’s activities in Belarus. The previous day, the office of the Party of Communists of Belarus (PCB) was sealed off because it allegedly was in breach of fire safety regulations, Belapan reported. PCB leader Syarhei Kalyakin denounced the move as a political act instigated by the president’s administration. Kalyakin had sided with deputies opposed to President Aleksandr Lukashenko’s new constitution during the November 1996 referendum. Also on February 11, Anatol Lyabedzka, a deputy of the dissolved parliament, was beaten at the entrance to his apartment block by unknown assailants. Lyabedzka claimed the attack was intended to intimidate him because of his political activities.
OMRI Daily Digest, February 14, 1997
I. Fund Established in Memory of murdered U.S. Journalist.
By Bruce Pannier
The Internews network on 3 February announced the creation of the Chris Gehring Memorial Fund to aid journalists in Central Asia. Gehring, 28, was the head of an Internews project in Kazakstan until he was found murdered in his Almaty apartment on 9 January. The fund will be used to continue Gehring's work, and will include an annual prize for journalists and a legal defense fund for journalists working in the area. Internews, a non-profit organization, provides assistance to more than 100 independent electronic media organizations in Central Asia.
OMRI Daily Digest, February 4, 1997
II. Partial Results of Kazakhstani Frequency Tender.
By Bruce Pannier
Kazakhstani authorities on 24 January announced the results of the first round of a tender for broadcasting rights, Internews and Kazakh Television reported, as monitored by the BBC. According to the television, channels were given to Kazakh Commercial Television (KTK) and the Independent Television Channel (NTK), which were described as “independent companies.” KTK is owned by Karavan, which publishes an independent newspaper, but Internews linked NTK with the daughter of President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Radio frequencies were given to “Europa,” “Siti,” and “Rika.” A second tender will be held later. Meanwhile, Russian Television reported on 27 January that its broadcasts have been pulled off the air in Kazakhstan and replaced with programming from Kazakhstan's state television agency “Habar.” Russian-speaking citizens of Kazakhstan, particularly in the north, have protested the change to Russian Minister of CIS Affairs Aman Tuleyev.
OMRI Daily Digest, January 28, 1997
III. President defends high tender fees for broadcast licenses.
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has defended
the high fees to be charged in the tender for TV and radio frequencies.
At a news conference broadcast on Kazakh Television on December 30, 1996,
he said the market dictated that the frequencies should go to the highest
bidder so as to maximize state revenue, and that providing credit to poorer
bidders would be unfair to more affluent companies. Following is
an excerpt from the news conference, broadcast by Kazakh TV; subheadings
added editorially:
Relays of TV programs from Russia
[Unidentified journalist] Mr. President, you
are probably aware that over a month has passed since the relaying of RTR
[Russian Television] ended. It turns out that Russia has not refused
to pay for the relays. Does this mean that the Russian channels ORT
[Russian Public Television] and RTR are to be replaced in future?
What is your opinion about this? Is it really necessary to cut off
broadcasts that enjoy such a large audience here in Kazakhstan?
[President Nursultan Nazarbayev] First of all,
ORT is broadcasting its programs in full. As for RTR, everything
will be all right as soon as they pay up. This is enshrined in that
agreement signed by [Russian Prime Minister Viktor] Chernomyrdin and [Kazakh
Prime Minister Akezhan] Kazhegeldin. There is nothing unusual about
this and no need to raise the roof. This is the market. There
are 36 channels available on the cable TV network for those who want to
watch every day. All they have to do is to pay 30 dollars a month
plus 2,000 [currency not specified] for installation. Enjoy it around
the clock.
This concerns not only Kazakhstan but Belarus, Uzbekistan
and Ukraine as well. They have been operating under these conditions
for two years now. Besides, if ORT fails to conclude a contract with
a Kazakh channel so that it will not issue vouchers to a population of
17m for commercials, then purely market measures will be taken against
it. However, there will be no limitation whatsoever on anyone’s rights.
By the way, the agreement says that Kazakhstan will also broadcast to Russia
approximately the same amount of material, which has not been done so far
via Russian channels.
Tender fees for Kazakh broadcast licenses
[Unidentified journalist] Our republic has
shown itself to be most democratic, especially among Central Asian states,
by developing independent television and radio companies. However,
a tender, due to start here in Kazakhstan on 13th January, is going to
leave only four or five out of the 47 independent television and radio
companies afloat. Most of the conditions of the tender contravene
our legislation. Besides, the rates set for television and radio
frequencies are exorbitant. There is no comparison between them and
those in any other country. In Russia, for instance, only 1,500 dollars
were paid to get a license for ORT. Here, on the other hand, 128,000
[dollars] must be paid for an Alma-Ata city channel.
Therefore, I would be interested to know whether
it is possible to make a legal and financial examination of the way in
which those prices were set for that tender. Why on earth should
all the independent television and radio companies be eliminated?
They have been improving their image lately and are like a safety valve
which —
[Nazarbayev, interrupting] I see what you are
saying. First, I promise you firmly once again that I will not let
anyone gag the media. If there is a universal panacea in the world,
then it must be freedom of speech. But there is a certain procedure.
If there are government decisions contravening the constitution or the
law, as you say, then I promise you firmly that they will be brought into
line with the law and the constitution.
The radio frequency spectrum, however, is an integral
part of our resources, like underground oil, gold, ore, etc. That
is the case in all countries. Therefore, it should primarily be used
rationally and in the interests of the state.
Friends, we all want the market, so we are heading
for the market in every way. This is what they do in the civilized
world. We are going to do the same.
Kazakh Television first channel, December 30, 1996
Excerpts from interview with Yelena Chernokulskaya,
director of the Simferopol television equipment store Bytradiotekhnika,
by I. Dyakov:
Gradually, we have lost just about all of the Russian
television channels. Now ORT [Russian Public television] has also
disappeared, and in exchange there has surfaced some incomprehensible symbiosis
by the name of “Inter.” It is not inconceivable that this is only
an interim stage on the way to a complete cessation of reception in Crimea
of television programs of the Russian Federation.
Thank the Lord, we live at a time when it is impossible
to black out every television set, however much the champions of information
control might want that. There is satellite television.
We remind our readers that we still receive Moscow
programs via the state networks that come to Crimea by radio relay cable.
Locally, retransmission is effected by television tower. It is not
difficult to disconnect a cable, which we in fact are constantly observing,
but there is no way by any bureaucratic decrees and decisions that it is
possible to pull the curtain on Russian satellites. From them, it
is possible with a special antenna to receive all the Moscow and St Petersburg
programs. It is a pity that this does not come cheap, but relatively
affordable options are also possible.
All of this will be discussed in turn by Ye. O.
Chernokulskaya, director of the Simferopol television equipment store Bytradiotekhnika.
[Dyakov] Yelena Olegovna, is it really true
that thanks to satellites, Crimea can also be part of the Russian television
scene?
[Chernokulskaya] Across the entire peninsula,
one can receive radio signals relayed from satellites, although they are
mainly directed at Russia. The signal is weak when it gets here,
although the use of amplifiers and large antennas completely eliminates
this deficiency. We also get programs from Western Europe, Asia .
. . . [ellipsis as published] A 90-cm dish can receive dozens
of programs and a 3-m dish can get a hundred.
[Q] Our readers are interested first and foremost
in what Moscow is showing.
[A] The most popular channel here, ORT, can
be received from either of two Russian satellites, with a two-hour time
difference, it is true. On one satellite we have RTR [Russian Television
and Radio], TV-3 and Rossiya (from St Petersburg). One can “catch”
programs from TV-6, 2 x 2, NTV [Independent Television] Plus (there are
four channels here: “Our Cinema,” “Foreign Cinema,” “Music” and “Sports”),
and NVS (the Independent Broadcasting Network, which is intended for cable
television).
[Q] Why cable?
[A] That is to ensure the television channels
sufficient profitability. MART (the International Association of
Radio and Television) also works on the cable networks. Of course,
any other program can be rebroadcast on cable. This is a matter of
technology, if the desire is there.
But I have still not finished the list of satellite
channels. From space, one can get the programs of VRT (World Russian
Television), Almaty (in Russian) and NTV. Incidentally, NTV Plus
is transmitted from new satellites like the Hals. Starting next year,
programs from them will come in coded form; in order to receive them, whoever
does not have one will have to install a decoder in their television.
“Kiev has ?removed’ ORT; we can now rely only on Russian satellite television,” ‘Krymskaya Pravda,’ Simferopol, December 3 1996
II. Government shuts down critical TV programming.
In conforming with a National TV and Radio Broadcasting
Council decision, a license for broadcasting the International Media Center’s
(IMC) program “Internews” was recalled from channel UT-2, Ukraine’s second
television channel. The IMC is financed by the US government’s USAID
[US Agency for International Development].
In 1996, the IMC broadcast the information programs
“Vikna” and “Vikna v Svit” and the weekly program “Parahraf.”
In place of IMC programming, the national council
granted a license for broadcasting on UT-2 Studio 1+1 programs, which will
include news programs prepared by the pro-president television company
Nova Mova. Also, the weekly analytical program “Pisliamova” will
replace IMC’s “Parahraf.”
“Nobody has even explained why we were rejected
in granting a license for broadcasting on UT-2,” said IMC president Mykola
Kniazhytskiy.
“It seems that now, Ukrainian political journalism
is reaching its end,” he said. “The times of broadcasting nonstate
news regardless of pressure exerted by financial-regional clans have passed.
Starting this year, airtime of Ukrainian television will be toughly divided
between two monopolists: the state and commercial structures.”
According to IMC director Yuriy Ayvazian, IMC was
granted a license for the right to broadcast from April on the 50th channel,
which covers Kiev and the Kiev oblast.
“Despite of everything that has happened, we will
grow, develop and improve our company. We want to change a bit the
concept of broadcasting,” Ayvazian said.
Internews news agency, Kiev, January 3, 1997
III. Sanctions for failure to broadcast in Ukrainian.
The National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting
[NCTRB], the State Radio Company and the Ministry of Information intend
to apply appropriate sanctions, including the withdrawal of licenses for
the right to broadcast, against those TV and radio organizations that fail
to adopt the Ukrainian language in their broadcasts by the end of 1997.
This was stated in a letter of recommendation adopted at a round-table
meeting of leaders of the above organizations with members of the Prosvita
[Enlightenment] organization.
As a result of the meeting, the Ministry of Information
and the NCTRB have been ordered to conduct work aimed at supporting those
TV and radio stations that are strictly implementing Article 10 of the
constitution of Ukraine.
Ukrainian TV, Kiev, December 20, 1996
I. Details of Constitutional Court ruling on broadcasting bill.
On November 14, the Constitutional Court ruled some
provisions of the Radio and Television Act anticonstitutional on [14th
November]. “The Constitutional Court guaranteed once again freedom
of speech and sent a clear message to parliament that the constitutional
principles must be observed in lawmaking,” said Judge Todor Todorov, a
rapporteur on the case.
The court ruling applies to provisions regulating
the access of politicians and state officials to the electronic media.
In the future, national radio and television will not be obliged to grant
on request free airtime to the president, the chairman [speaker] of parliament,
the prime minister and their spokespersons. This provision discriminated
against some bodies and placed others on an unequal footing, Judge Todorov
said. He added the court decision did not infringe on the president’s
constitutional right to address the nation on radio and television.
The court scrapped a provision allowing authorized
representatives of the political forces in parliament to make five-minute
statements on the national electronic media twice a month. This means
party leaders or persons authorized by them will not have access to the
air to talk about their party’s problems, Judge Todorov said.
Some of the anticonstitutional provisions deal with
the status and operation of the National Council on Radio and Television
(NCRT), designed to guarantee the observance of the law. The court
ruled that the NCRT may not be a state body as provided for by the law.
In addition to its controlling and administrative powers, a state body
has managerial powers as well, which means the state may infringe on the
freedom of radio and television, Judge Todorov said.
Another provision declared anticonstitutional regulates
the appointment of NCRT members. It envisages that the 11 members
of the NCRT be appointed by parliament: seven on the proposal of parliament,
proportional to the parliamentary factions’ representation, two on the
proposal of the president and two of the prime minister. The court
decided that parliament cannot apply political criteria and the principle
of parliamentary representation in appointing NCRT members. It argued
that the constitution protects the rights of parliamentary factions only
with a view to appointing a cabinet and never in the establishment of an
independent institution, said Judge Todorov. He believes that parliament
should appoint the NCRT, obeying the constitutional principles of pluralism,
independence and equality of powers.
The NCRT shall not have the power to give binding
instructions to the chiefs of radio and TV organizations and to prevent
broadcasts.
The court also ruled anticonstitutional a provision
banning the broadcasting of subjective comments of facts. The court
panel argued that a comment is always subjective as it expresses an individual
opinion. An article preventing radio and TV stations from broadcasting
political propaganda on their own behalf, too, was declared anticonstitutional.
However, it remains in force for the national radio and TV.
The court ruled anticonstitutional a provision envisaging
that the sitting directors-general of the national radio and TV keep their
office for three years after their appointment . . . .
BTA news agency, Sofia, November 15, 1996
When he used the word “idiot” on the “Call the Director”
program, Nova TV general director Vladimir Zelezny was not referring to
a particular member of the Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting,
he told parliament’s media committee today.
The Broadcasting Council believes Zelezny was publicly
referring to its spokesman and deputy chairman Petr Stepanek.
At a news conference last week Stepanek made strong
criticism of the fact that more than 80 percent of Nova television’s capital
is foreign, and hinted that proceedings might be started to revoke Nova’s
license because its news reports on its own case were unobjective.
Zelezny said on Saturday on his regular “Call the
Director” slot that “any old idiot can knock the honest work of four hundred
people.?
He also said that Stepanek did not behave like the
spokesman of the council and that statements of that kind could damage
the interests of the American company CME (Central European Media Enterprises),
which has an 86 percent share in Nova’s operating company.
CME would definitely be defending itself through
diplomatic channels and in other less visible ways, Zelezny said, adding
that the United States might also express its view. The media committee’s
meeting today discussed whether Nova or Czech Television had given the
more objective report on last week’s council meeting when the possibility
of revoking Nova’s license was discussed, because their reports were fairly
different. Stepanek claimed that it was Nova’s report which was unobjective,
and that it was lying when it claimed that it was he who was behind the
push to have the channel’s license revoked.
Yesterday the council expressed “severe dissatisfaction
at the fact that TV Nova has repeatedly abused its news reports and current
affairs programs to provide deliberate disinformation about the media sphere
and to propagate its own business interests in disputes.”
It faced having its license revoked for breaking
the law, the council said.
CTK National News Wire, January 30, 1997
II. CME to sell part of its TV Nova stake.
The American [Bermuda-based] company CME, which currently
holds nearly 90 percent of the Czech independent TV company Nova, has no
intention of influencing the content or character of TV Nova’s programs,
director of TV Nova Vladimir Zelezny said on Monday [6th January].
His statement came in reaction to reports in some
media outlets claiming CME is the majority owner of TV Nova and from this
position influences its operation and program choice. According to
non-verified information, CME is pressing for even greater commercialization
in TV Nova’s broadcasting, especially regarding its main evening news program
“TV News.”
“CME does not need to influence TV Nova’s programming
because it doesn’t even know the needs of Nova’s viewers,” Zelezny said.
“CME wants to sell part of its stake in the Czech independent TV company
to Czech companies in the future. Concretely, it is considering selling
part of its stake to large banks,” Zelezny added.
CTI news agency, Prague, January 6, 1997
III. Zelezny to receive $100,000 if CME takes control of Nova.
The General Director of the private Nova Television
channel Vladimir Zelezny will receive a $100,000 bonus if a contract is
realized under which the U.S. Bermuda-based CME company takes control
over Nova, the daily Prace writes today.
According to the contract, signed last August, CME
has lent $4.7 million to Zelezny to purchase a decisive 60 percent stake
in the CET 21 company, the holder of the license for Nova’s broadcasting,
of which CME is one of the stock-holders, the paper says.
Zelezny has pledged to support CME's interests if
the contract is realized, it adds.
This vassal relationship is a perfect legal trick
aimed against the Czech Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting as
under the law it is obliged to take away the license from the CET 21 company
if Nova is directly sold to a foreign partner, the paper says.
Prace says that other partners in the CET 21 company
have already received a $520,000 advance payment from CME and that four
of them have already offered part of their stock for sale.
Apart from Zelezny, only filmmaker Peter Krsak does
not intend to sell his shares. On the contrary, Krsak has lodged
a complaint against his partners—Fedor Gal, Vlastimil Venclik, Josef Alan
and Petr Huncik—for not exercising the right of first refusal. Krsak
asserts that Zelezny was not telling the truth when he said at a news conference
that Krsak's offer came too late, the paper says.
Beside six individuals and CME the Ceska sporitelna
bank is also a stock-holder in CET 21.
ME's majority owner is American businessman Ronald
Lauder and Zelezny has been sitting on its supervisory board since last
year.
The license for the broadcasting of the most-watched
television channel in the Czech Republic was issued to the CET 21 company
by the Radio and Television Council for 12 years.
CTK National News Wire, January 8, 1997
IV. Television Council Slams Nova for “unethical” pictures of Havel.
The Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting
has condemned the transmission of footage of President Vaclav Havel in
his hospital room by the private Nova television, in a statement issued
today.
The broadcast was the culmination of “the growing
share of unethical and tabloid news reporting by a number of media,” the
Council said.
It added that efforts to keep ethical norms respected
were harmed all the more by “excuses for and playing down of the most serious
excesses, coming from media bosses, accompanied by the even more outrageous
argument that even more intimate footage was not broadcast.”
Nova showed the pictures of Havel, taken by a hidden
camera through the window of his hospital room, last week.
The station’s flamboyant general director, Vladimir
Zelezny, defended his staff by arguing that “truly private” footage had
not been transmitted.
“I don’t think the President was harmed. He
would be harmed if we showed him in an unsuitable situation or when he
is not sufficiently dressed or in quite a different, really private, situation,
which, by the way, really occurred immediately after our film crew . .
. . We respected this and we did not broadcast this,” Zelezny said.
The Broadcasting Council says in its statement that
ethical principles form the border between freedom of information on the
one hand, and the right to privacy on the other. Acknowledging that
ethics “cannot be specifically defined in law,” the Council calls on the
media to adopt a self-regulatory code of conduct.
Havel himself has already spoken out over the matter.
“Preparation for surgery includes calm, a certain quiet, and I really felt
a bit disturbed by all sorts of investigating cameramen climbing on adjacent
roofs and balconies trying to penetrate into my private life without my
consent and to film me in bed,” Havel said in his regular Talks in Lany
radio slot on Sunday.
“I agree that the health of a constitutional official
is to a certain extent a public affair, and the public has the right to
know the real state of affairs, but I would also welcome a minimum measure
of taste,” Havel added.
Havel went into hospital last week ahead of an operation
on Monday, in which a cancerous tumor was removed from his right lung.
CTK National News Wire, December 4, 1996
The Openness Club [Hungarian campaign group for press
freedom] has appealed to the Constitutional Court to review certain paragraphs
of the Media Law. The appeal, which is to be submitted tomorrow,
concerns certain articles which, according to the campaigners, give an
opportunity for political parties to influence the editorial work and hinder
the establishment of an independent public service media.
The termination of the television program “Objective”
[news and current affairs program on the second channel], the departure
of Istvan Vizinger, head of the film department, and regular interference
by the complaints committee of the National Radio and Television Council
[ORTT] in the editorial work of Hungarian Radio under the pretext of the
(wrongly interpreted) principle of balanced approach, are all signs of
this trend, the statement issued by the Openness Club reads.
Hungarian Radio, Budapest, January 12, 1997
II. New media law limits advertising time.
Radio and TV broadcasting will be regulated by a
modern media law as of January 1997, limiting advertising time and setting
a ratio for Hungarian and European productions . . . .
The country has three national broadcasters—Hungarian
TV, Hungarian Radio and Duna (Danube) TV—as well as 190 local radio stations
and 100 local TV studios. A national commercial radio station and
a few regional commercial radio stations and TV channels were set up before
the media law came into force in February 1996, and there are about 200
local cable channels covering more than half of all homes. The law
makes provisions for the privatization of two national TV and two national
radio frequencies.
Advertising will be limited to 15 percent of daily
broadcasts from January 1997, or up to six minutes an hour for public operators
and up to 12 minutes an hour for others. Hungarian programs should
make up 15 percent—20 percent from 1st January 1999—of the annual broadcast
time of national and regional TV services. Public television will
be required to devote 51 percent of its broadcast time to domestic programs,
or at least 70 percent including European productions, as of 1st January
1997.
The public media is financed by annually-fixed government
subsidy and the Broadcasting Fund from broadcasting fees, tender fees,
state contribution and voluntary payments. Under the law, at least
50 percent of the broadcasting fee paid into the fund must help the preparation
of domestic public programs.
MTI news agency, Budapest, December 31, 1996
III. Two Digital Satellite Programs from Hungary.
The first digital television transmission in Central
Europe was launched from Hungary, for the time being in an encrypted manner.
The technology is ensured by Antenna Hungaria Kft. (AH), via the
Amos Israeli satellite that covers the Eastern European region. The
TV3 commercial channel, which has so far been seen only in Budapest, is
now watched in 50 Hungarian cities. Another commercial channel, the
A3, began transmitting its programs with the digital technology in October
1996.
Television channels broadcasting via satellite are
coming to play an ever greater role in view of the limited number of frequencies
available. A great advantage of satellite digital television is that
it is less expensive than analog transmission. With the help of signal
compression, 4 to 8 digital television channels can be transferred on an
analog channel to satellite.
Antenna Hungaria has spent nearly HUF 700 million
(approx. USD 5 million) on the introduction of the system that forwards
the digital program to the satellite. The project is financed by
the Norwegian Eksportfinans, and the installations are delivered by the
Norwegian Tandberg AS company. The digital signals are forwarded
to the Israeli Amos satellite.
The annual lease of an analog channel costs USD
4 million on the cheapest satellite. In view of the digital technology,
this sum is shared by the 4 or 8 stations participating in the system.
Experts believe the modern technology is cost-saving in the long term,
and makes it possible to provide extra services as, for instance, sub-titling,
several simultaneous sound-bands, and teletext service. Programs
transmitted in this way reach viewers only through cable companies; however,
special receiving installations will make it possible for individual households
to join in eventually. For the time being, AH will locate the receiving
installations at the cable companies, and will also be responsible for
its operation.
Only three national earth-based frequency networks
can be created in Hungary, which would cover 90 percent of the country.
Of the present Hungarian Television Channel 1 and Channel 2, the state
will be able to keep Channel 1, with Channel 2 most probably to be leased
by an international consortium. Alongside this, a third national
television channel can be set up, which presumably will be divided among
those bidding for it. However, the possibility for transmissions
via satellite are almost unlimited, no competition is needed, and even
the Hungarian media law stipulates only a reporting obligation for television
companies broadcasting in this way. The fee for transmitting, is
only a fraction of that for earth-based transmissions.
For the already operating commercial channels, the
digital technology offers a solution to keeping their investors; confidence,
and increasing their nationally covered areas. At present, the digital
satellite system ensured by Antenna Hungaria is suitable for forwarding
programs of four channels. The first to agree with AH was the Budapest
Communication Rt. that operates TV, which has transmitted its programs
with the digital technology from September to 50 city cable companies nationwide.
An additional 100 cable networks were expected to join the system, and
TV3 hopes its programs will be accessible to 40 percent of Hungary instead
of the present 19. Its market share will thus total 10 percent and
it will become the third most watched television channel in Hungary.
TV3 pays one-fourth of the satellite service, nearly USD 1 million.
The American-owned Hungarian Broadcasting Corporation,
which operates the A3 channel that has so far been seen only through the
AM-micro system in Budapest, also strives for greater national viewership.
It has announced it will begin transmitting with digital technology, and
has signed a contract to this end with the Dutch NetHold firm. The
channel will beam its programs to the Astra satellite as part of a Scandinavian
program package of the MultiChoice channel. This means that 35 percent
of households that have a television set will receive A3 programs, as against
the previous 17 percent. By the end of 1997 the channel hopes to
cover 60-70 percent of the country, with the mediation of cable companies.
The Kablekom Kft., which is a member of the Time-Warner
group and provides the HBO movie channel and the Spektrum TV for Hungarian
viewers, will begin digital program transmissions early next year.
Time Warner is expected to send its Central European channels to either
the Amos or the Copernicus satellite from a Budapest transmitter station.
MTI Hungarian News Agency, October 29, 1996
IV. Government approves television restructuring plan.
The government has approved a proposal for increasing
the basic capital of the broadcasting transmission company Antenna Hungaria
Rt by 2.5bn forints, the Hungarian news agency MTI reported on 23rd January,
quoting the government spokesman, Elemer Kiss.
He said that the Radio and Television Broadcasting
Act had specified all the investment projects related to the distribution
and transmission of national radio and television programs which Antenna
Hungaria must implement. Accordingly, Antenna Hungaria will have
to launch six projects this year: the third national ground-based television
network (TV3), two radio networks available to Hungarian Radio in the 100-MHz-frequency
band; two 100-MHz-VHF networks for commercial radio channels to be selected
by tender; and a relay station for the satellite channel TV2. Since
Antenna Hungaria cannot afford the projects, the government agreed to increase
the company’s basic capital, the government spokesman said.
MTI news agency, Budapest, Jan 23, 1997
I. Rumania to privatize telecoms carrier.
Romtelecom, the Rumanian national telecommunications company, will be privatized in two stages over the course of two years. The company is to obtain $1bn after privatization, according to Sorin Pantis, the minister for communications. The project will be implemented not only through the sale of shares on international markets, but also through attracting a foreign strategic investor. The sell-off will be financed through an EBRD credit.
Evenimentul Zilei, Rumania, Jan 29, 1997