ZAGREB, June 13 (Hina) - The temporary manager of Croatian Radio and Television (HRT) urged parliament on Friday to appoint the HRT Council as soon as possible in order to give HRT a management with a standing mandate, which he said
HRT needed to be able to face the strongest competition in its history.
ZAGREB, June 13 (Hina) - The temporary manager of Croatian Radio and
Television (HRT) urged parliament on Friday to appoint the HRT
Council as soon as possible in order to give HRT a management with a
standing mandate, which he said HRT needed to be able to face the
strongest competition in its history. #L#
Parliament today held a combined debate on an audit of HRT's
business in 2000/2001, a report on the work of the HRT Steering
Council in 2001/2003, and a report on ratings compiled by
independent institutions.
Temporary manager Mirko Galic said HRT's business last year had
been characterised by stability.
He said subscription fees covered 60 percent of the business costs
and marketing the rest. HRT's liabilities today stand at 50 million
kuna, which is negligible considering that earnings stand at 1.2
billion, Galic said.
He stressed that last year saw the start of HRT's technological
development and that 500 million kuna would be invested in the
venture, which he said was imperative because of the competition.
Although it no longer holds the monopoly, HRT still dominates
Croatia's electronic media market, said Galic.
Commenting on irregularities noted by the state audit, he said
mistakes were partly due to the previous management's operations,
and partly due to the lack of personnel and inadequate technical
equipment.
Chief state auditor Sima Krasic said the audit of HRT's business had
shown a trend of growing revenue. Profits in 2000 exceeded seven
billion kuna and in 2001 they exceeded 29 billion.
Most of the irregularities noted by the audit were committed in
2001, Krasic said, adding they showed that HRT purchased goods from
sellers with which no contracts had been signed.
(EUR1 = 7.5 kuna)
(hina) ha