DEADLINES ACCELERATE TALKS ON ESTABLISHING BH FEDERAL TELEVISION

SARAJEVO, Jan 8 (Hina) - The Bosnia-Herzegovina Federation Television could start airing its programme in January or early February, but it will take time for its complete organisation, the deputy director of the Independent Media Commission in BH, Robert Gillette, told Hina in Sarajevo on Friday. The IMC is currently trying to help establish better cooperation between BH Radio-Television and the "Erotel" company, and reach a final agreement on the establishment of a federal television, Gillette noted. In early December, the IMC announced that all radio and television stations in BH, in order to continue functioning, would have to request an appropriate airing licence by February 28. The decision was reached with the aim to make order among electronic media in BH, given that since the signing of the Dayton peace agreement there has been no cooperation among Bosnia's three ethnic communities with regard to broadcasting on a state level. According to the IMC, 280 radio and television stations are currently active in BH. About 200 of them have already received questionnaires about their work, and about 30 have filled them out and returned them to the IMC. Gillette said the IMC believed some ten percent of the media they knew about had stopped functioning since the questionnaires had been sent out, and that as many had not contacted the IMC. Only one radio station, from the Bosnian Serb entity, expressly refused to have any contact with the IMC with the explanation it did not recognise IMC's authority. Gillette believed most of the work in issuing licences could be done by April. He pointed out the media which did not file a licence request, or were not granted a licence, would have to stop functioning. February 28 also seems to be a logical deadline for the federal television to start functioning. This would put an end to the airing of the Croatian Radio Television (HRT) programme through transmitters located on BH territory. Gillette believes other Croatian radio and television stations in BH should participate in negotiations besides "Erotel" because, according to him, those were issues of vital interest for those stations. He believed the re-airing of HRT programmes in BH was at present an obstacle to the development of BH Croat media and its market operations. That is why it is necessary to establish a federal television, Gillette added. HRT could participate in that, he said, through an exchange of programmes. Gillette believed current negotiations were obstructed mostly by problems in programme design, as well as by financing, because television was an expensive and complicated project. Gillette however stressed that "Erotel" was putting too much effort into maintaining a status quo. This, he said, was not comprehensible because the establishment of a federal television offered "Erotel" a possibility for making significant profit, for instance by renting its transmitters. For or against the national programme, is the most serious issue for which there is still no compromise. Undoubtedly, the Croatian political leadership wants national channels. We, however, believe that such a thing would not be of any help, nor is it necessary. No person here needs a television which will promote apartheid, but a television which will serve the legitimate interests of all communities, Gillette said. The IMC does not believe that the Belgian and Swiss models of a public television are appropriate for BH, because those were programmes in different languages and in countries wealthy enough to finance them. Public televisions in BH, Gillette said, would in the end be only a part of the media scene. It would certainly be complemented by TV stations which would help promote different views and interests, Gillette concluded. (hina) it/ha