On March 14 at the session of the RA Commercial Court the suit of "Dar 21", "ARMENAKOB", "TV 5", "Yerevan" and "EV" TV companies versus the National Commission on Television and Radio was refused. On January 30 (exactly before the broadcast licensing competition) five TV companies challenged in court the refusal of the National Commission to return them their application packages for revision (see details in YPC Weekly Newsletter, January 25-31, 2003).
As it has already been reported, the competition for five UHFs in Yerevan was announced by the National Commission as far back as on October 15 last year, and its conductance was twice postponed: first, due to the litigation of "Noyan Tapan" versus the National Commission (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, January 18-24, 2003), then – because of the trial above. It is also known that among the bidders in the competition is "A1+" TV company, which was refused a broadcast license on April 2, 2002. Not only the Armenian public, but also international organizations, including the Council of Europe of which Armenia is a member insisted on holding a licensing competition as soon as possible – in particular, so that "A1+" could have a chance to return on air before presidential elections of 2003. Formally, no faults can be found with the reasons for freezing the competition. Yet even the greatest optimist would find it difficult to convince oneself and everyone else that the constantly postponed possibility for the opposition "A1+" TV channel to return on air is explained only by unfortunate circumstances. The situation is too fortunate for all those who do not want an alternative point of view: the presidential elections are over, but those for the parliament are imminent. What else will impede the National Commission from holding a competition?..
