On February 23 eighteen TV and radio companies of the country and Internews-Armenia made an address to the RA President Robert Kocharian, the National Assembly Speaker Armen Khachatrian, the Prime Minister Andranik Margarian, the chairmen of the specialized Parliament committees and the head of the National Commission on Television and Radio. The address voiced a demand to review a number of provisions of the RA Law “On Amendments to the RA Law ‘On State Fee’” (in force since January 1, 2002), referring to the charges of annual state fee on production and broadcasting of TV and radio programs.
The broadcasters mentioned in particular that Article 53 of the RA Law “On Television and Radio” stipulates license payment to be made for the broadcasting of TV and radio programs, and thus, charging a state fee means a double charge on the same activities. Besides, the above mentioned provisions on state fees are incongruent with Article 47 of the broadcast law, according to which only the broadcasting of TV and radio programs can be licensed, and not their production.
The TV and radio companies noted in their address to authorities that they evaluate the adoption of such a law to be an attempt to exert financial pressure on them, which may lead to a monopolization of Armenian broadcast market.
