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THOUSANDS IN ARMENIA DONATE TO BRING A1+ BACK ON AIR
Asbarez
Monday, December 6th, 2010
YEREVAN
Thousands of Armenians have donated small amounts of money to a fund
set up to assist a television company that has been struggling for
years to regain its broadcasting license.
A group of Armenian scholars and public activists initiated the
so-called People's TV Trust in October with the stated major purpose of
helping A1+ TV return to the air, as well as "creating and broadcasting
non-profit television programs of public significance."
In what is largely viewed as a symbolic show of support for having
independent television in the country, more than 20,000 citizens have
already donated a total of about 3.5 million drams (approx. $10,000)
to the cause.
At a press conference on Monday, People's TV Trust representatives
said they intended to go ahead with their project regardless of the
outcomes of the broadcast licensing contests due to be announced by
the state regulator on December 16.
A1+, a rare television company critical of the government in Armenia,
controversially lost its broadcasting license in 2002 and has not been
granted another license in any of a dozen contests it has participated
in since then.
The company now operating a popular news website and 'online
television' faces rare competition in one of the ongoing 18 contests
for digital broadcasting licenses, 16 of which feature only one bidder
per frequency.
Its proposal submitted to the National Commission on Television and
Radio (HRAH) this time includes an investment certificate for a total
of more than $1 million at the initial stage of business operations.
In an interview with RFE/RL's Armenian service on Monday Yerevan Press
Club President Boris Navasardian, who is a member of the People's TV
Board of Trustees, said that "a new situation has emerged today as
compared to the situations that existed prior to the previous contests"
and did not exclude that this situation might "cause the authorities
to allow A1+ to return to the air."
"I agree that the HRAH is unlikely to make a decision that would
go against the wish of the authorities. But we fully understand the
impact that international pressure normally has on the authorities,
and besides today we have a decision by the European Court of Human
Rights," said Navasardian.
The Strasbourg-based Court fined the Armenian authorities in 2008
over the HRAH's consistent rejection of A1+ applications for a new
frequency, which it said constituted a violation of the "freedom of
expression" article of the European Convention on Human Rights.
That ruling, however, did not result in A1+'s immediate return to
the air as the Armenian authorities controversially suspended, for
about two years, the licensing process citing the need to expedite
the country's transition to mandatory digital broadcasting.
Mesrop Movsesian, the head of A1+'s founding company, Meltex, said
he was optimistic about regaining the broadcasting rights this
time around.
From: A. Papazian
Asbarez
Monday, December 6th, 2010
YEREVAN
Thousands of Armenians have donated small amounts of money to a fund
set up to assist a television company that has been struggling for
years to regain its broadcasting license.
A group of Armenian scholars and public activists initiated the
so-called People's TV Trust in October with the stated major purpose of
helping A1+ TV return to the air, as well as "creating and broadcasting
non-profit television programs of public significance."
In what is largely viewed as a symbolic show of support for having
independent television in the country, more than 20,000 citizens have
already donated a total of about 3.5 million drams (approx. $10,000)
to the cause.
At a press conference on Monday, People's TV Trust representatives
said they intended to go ahead with their project regardless of the
outcomes of the broadcast licensing contests due to be announced by
the state regulator on December 16.
A1+, a rare television company critical of the government in Armenia,
controversially lost its broadcasting license in 2002 and has not been
granted another license in any of a dozen contests it has participated
in since then.
The company now operating a popular news website and 'online
television' faces rare competition in one of the ongoing 18 contests
for digital broadcasting licenses, 16 of which feature only one bidder
per frequency.
Its proposal submitted to the National Commission on Television and
Radio (HRAH) this time includes an investment certificate for a total
of more than $1 million at the initial stage of business operations.
In an interview with RFE/RL's Armenian service on Monday Yerevan Press
Club President Boris Navasardian, who is a member of the People's TV
Board of Trustees, said that "a new situation has emerged today as
compared to the situations that existed prior to the previous contests"
and did not exclude that this situation might "cause the authorities
to allow A1+ to return to the air."
"I agree that the HRAH is unlikely to make a decision that would
go against the wish of the authorities. But we fully understand the
impact that international pressure normally has on the authorities,
and besides today we have a decision by the European Court of Human
Rights," said Navasardian.
The Strasbourg-based Court fined the Armenian authorities in 2008
over the HRAH's consistent rejection of A1+ applications for a new
frequency, which it said constituted a violation of the "freedom of
expression" article of the European Convention on Human Rights.
That ruling, however, did not result in A1+'s immediate return to
the air as the Armenian authorities controversially suspended, for
about two years, the licensing process citing the need to expedite
the country's transition to mandatory digital broadcasting.
Mesrop Movsesian, the head of A1+'s founding company, Meltex, said
he was optimistic about regaining the broadcasting rights this
time around.
From: A. Papazian