COMMERCIAL RADIO COMPANIES: THE DRAFT AMENDMENT POSES A THREAT TO THE DUAL MEDIA SYSTEM

Commercial radio networks organised in the Association of Private Broadcasters (APSV) reject the draft of a major media amendment and consider it a threat to the dual media system.

Commercial radio companies that are members of the Association of Private Broadcasters have also spoken out against the so-called “major media amendment”, which is supposed to bring more money to Česká televize (Czech Television) and Český rozhlas (Czech Radio) by increasing the television and radio fees. In their statement, they claim that they were not consulted in any way on the draft amendment, that they were bypassed by the Minister of Culture and that “no government in power since November 1989 has shown such a lack of dialogue”. The commercial radios are concerned that the ministry has not justified the “real need” for the fee increase and that the proposal contributes to the threat to the dual media system.

“We, therefore, reject the submitted proposal as a whole and call on the Government of the Czech Republic to withdraw the proposal from the inter-ministerial procedure and to initiate a real debate on the role of public service media in a technologically and socially changing media environment,” calls APSV.

According to APSV, the submitted draft media amendment demonstrates a “profound misunderstanding of the media environment and the development and direction of the market”. They also point out that there is no definition of public service and that opening up a debate on this topic is a prerequisite for any modification of the current funding of public service media. “In the radio market, it is absolutely clear that, for example, the existing digital stations, which are also financed from licence fees, have not justified their existence from either a technical or a listener perspective, and it is not even clear what public interest they fulfil,” APSV states.

Representatives of the commercial radio market are also bothered by the fact that the bill continues to provide for the presence of advertising and sponsorship in the ČRo broadcasts and on the internet. “The draft thus tilts the balance of the dual system one-sidedly towards the public media,” APSV claims.

The Association of Commercial Television, the Union of Publishers and the Internet Development Association (SPIR) have already expressed their opposition to the draft media amendment.

Czech Culture Minister Martin Baxa (ODS) said during the publication of the draft amendment that the governing coalition wants to ensure the stability of public service media. He argued that the amount of fees had not changed in 15 or 18 years and that commodity prices had risen by tens of percent in that time. Thus, the proposed fee increases would not exceed the rate of inflation over that period according to the Minister.

According to the Ministry of Culture submitting the draft, stakeholders can also comment on the proposal in the ongoing inter-ministerial comment procedure.

“The bill does not contain any provisions that would give rise to concerns about market imbalance, the principle of financing public service media remains the same, i.e. from licence fees. The volume of advertising for public service media does not increase in any way over the current situation,” Petra Hrušová from the Press Department of the Ministry of Culture responded last week.

Source: mediaguru.cz