Skopje, 27 September 2016 – Today, theAgency for Audio and Audiovisual Media Services held its third public meeting in 2016. The Agency Director, Mr. Zoran Trajcevski, spoke about the activities carried out in line with the Annual Work Programme, and presented in detail the activities related to the conducted supervisions, pronounced warning measures against the broadcasters, the public communication network operators and the print media, as well as the request for initiating misdemeanor proceedings.
He pointed out that the Agency Council had adopted two decisions to withdraw radio broadcasting licenses, that a decision had been reached to publish a public competition to grant one radio broadcasting license at the local level, in the area of Kumanovo municipality, whereas three broadcasters had been erased from the Broadcasters’ Register. He mentioned the many activities in the field of EU integration and international cooperation, accentuating the visit of Agency representatives to the Parliamentary Committee for Culture and Media of the Parliament of the Republic of Bulgaria. On this occasion the Agency had presented its competences, the manner of financing, ensuring its independence and electing the organs of the Agency. The Bulgarian MPs had an opportunity to also learn about the legal provisions and the process of issuing licenses to the broadcasters in the Republic of Macedonia. He further added that, in this period, the Agency had also continued acting upon proposals and complaints received. Regular and timely action was taken with regard to 5 submitted complaints. On the Agency’s proposal, the Government of RM adopted 1 decision to exempt a total of 7 households from the obligation to pay broadcasting fees, as they are not covered by the broadcasting signals of the Macedonian Public Broadcasting Enterprise (JP Makedonska Radiodifuzija), delivering the programming services of MRT, and 9 decisions to reinstall payment of broadcasting fees for certain payers due to ensured coverage by the broadcasting signals of the Macedonian Public Broadcasting Enterprise.
He informed those present about the reports and the research conducted in the previous period, as follows: the report on the agency’s activities Aimed at following the broadcasters’ ownership structure and their obligations in terms of ensuring transparency of their ownership and financing sources in the period from 1 January until 30 June 2016, the study conducted to establish the justifiability of publishing a public competition to grant a radio broadcasting license at the local level, for the area of the city of Gostivar, and the study conducted to establish the justifiability of publishing a public competition to grant a television broadcasting license at the state level via a terrestrial transmitter. The Agency conducted a research into the scope of the radio stations and the total viewership share of the television stations broadcasting programme at the state level vial satellite or via a public electronic communications network and the television stations broadcasting programme at the regional and local levels in the second quarter of 2016. It also prepared a research into gender issues, the results of which will be presented at a special event to be organized by the Agency by the year’s end. He explained that the Agency had started the realization of a research titled “Television and Persons with Sensory Impairments – Offer and Needs”, the report on which should be completed by the end of this year.
Also presented at the meeting was the draft version of the Analysis of the Market of Audio and Audiovisual Media Services in 2015, prepared by the Agency. It will be published on the Agency’s website and all parties concerned will be able to submit their suggestions and proposals in the following 7 days. If applicable, the Agency will integrate the same into the final version of the text. The ultimate goal is to ensure as much transparency and improvement of the text as possible. This analysis presents the data for 2015 relating to the broadcasters’ economic performances, data on the models in which the audience in Macedonia uses the media, the viewpoints and opinions of the audience regarding the offer of the domestic television channels, the manner in which it receives the television signals and the number of broadcasters in the year analyzed.
The presentations given at the third public meeting are available at the following links:
Mr. Zoran Trajcevski, PhD
ACTIVITIES CONDUCTED IN TUNE WITH THE AAAVMS’ ANNUAL WORK PROGRAMME
Ms. Magdalena Davidovska Dovleva
DRAFT ANALYSIS OF THE MARKET OF AUDIO AND AUDIOVISUAL MEDIA SERVICES IN 2015
The Draft Analysis of the Market of Audio and Audiovisual Media Services in 2015 can be downloaded at the following link