On February 11 at the session of the National Commission on TV and Radio of Armenia (agency that regulates the activities of private broadcasters) a decision was passed to fine "Kentron" and "Prometheus" TV companies for the violations of the electoral legislation made while covering the campaigns of RA presidency candidates. Thus, on January 21 "Kentron" TV channel aired a promotional piece of presidency candidate Aram Karapetian without marking it as "political advertising" or "pre-election campaign program", as it is stipulated by the law. On January 23 "Prometheus" TV company made a similar infringement when airing the promotional materials of presidency candidates Stepan Demirchian, Aram Karapetian and Robert Kocharian. Yet on the same day, during the evening newscast of "Lraber" the TV company apologized for this, explaining the misdemeanor by technical problems.
Having studied the situation, the National Commission came to the conclusion that both violations were unpremeditated, and minimal sanctions were imposed on "Kentron" and "Prometheus": each of the broadcasters must pay a penalty of 100 minimal wages , amounting to 100,000 drams (about 0). (The maximum fine is equivalent to 200 minimal wages).
