SARAJEVO, Dec 9 (Hina) - All electronic media broadcasting their +programmes on Bosnian territory will by the end of next February +have to request a broadcasting licence from the Independent Media +Commission (IMC), which was
established by the international peace +coordinator for Bosnia.+ All licences issued by the IMC would represent a binding contract +containing clearly specified conditions for professional +programme broadcasting, IMC deputy manager and head of the licence +granting department, Robert Gilette, told reporters in Sarajevo on +Wednesday.+ After four months of work, the IMC determined that 280 radio and +television stations were active in Bosnia. Many broadcast with +inadequate equipment or fail to comply with the minimum of +professional standards.+ According to available estimates, only 20 of 80 television stations +in Bosnia have a significant audience.+ Ther
SARAJEVO, Dec 9 (Hina) - All electronic media broadcasting their
programmes on Bosnian territory will by the end of next February
have to request a broadcasting licence from the Independent Media
Commission (IMC), which was established by the international peace
coordinator for Bosnia.
All licences issued by the IMC would represent a binding contract
containing clearly specified conditions for professional
programme broadcasting, IMC deputy manager and head of the licence
granting department, Robert Gilette, told reporters in Sarajevo on
Wednesday.
After four months of work, the IMC determined that 280 radio and
television stations were active in Bosnia. Many broadcast with
inadequate equipment or fail to comply with the minimum of
professional standards.
According to available estimates, only 20 of 80 television stations
in Bosnia have a significant audience.
There is no body in Bosnia which would regulate the allocation of
frequencies for broadcasting radio and television programmes,
which has resulted in a chaotic state of affairs.
Following a peace coordinator's decision, the IMC was authorised to
regulate the distribution of frequencies as public goods, with the
intention to transform the regulating body into a standing state
institution which would be run by local experts.
The grants which will be issued at first will cover a six-month
period and will not be charged. Licences covering longer periods
will be issued later and will cost the media between 1,000 and 5,000
marks, depending on the size of the territory they intend to cover.
Licence granting rules envisage that no station run by a war crimes
suspect can obtain a licence.
Robert Gilette said the licence-granting was also a way of making
sure that radio or television stations using the public spectrum of
frequencies cease being a means of political promotion.
Asked how broadcasts of Croatian-Radio Television (HRT) and Radio-
Television Serbia (RTS) would be regulated on Bosnian territory,
Gilette confirmed these two institutions too must request
licences.
He said the IMC understood the Bosnian Croats' necessity for HRT
programme rebroadcasts, but pointed out that, were it to continue
at the present rate, it would be more detrimental than of benefit to
Bosnian Croats.
By focusing all potential on HRT rebroadcasting, radio and
television stations in Bosnia which could produce programmes in
Croatian are being obstructed in their development.
Gilette said it was time for the Croatian government to consider
another way of assisting the media in Bosnia. He suggested the
possibility of direct cooperation between the HRT and Bosnian
Radio-Television.
He emphasised the IMC retained the right to refuse granting a
licence to a Bosnian media financed by a foreign government.
(hina) ha jn