discop link • #11

CEE dossierFREQUENCY SWITCH IN BULGARIABy Lilly GoleminovaIn Bulgaria, in order to be able tobroadcast, TV networks need twotypes of licenses - a programminglicense issued by Bulgarian Council forElectronic Media and a license for thefrequency, which is given under theauthority of the Commission forRegulation (Broadcasting Council).But due to the lack of clarity in medialaw in Bulgaria and because of the lackof activity from the UEM and Commissionmentioned above those playerswho are more flexible and reactivehave the space to maneuver and tomake various combinations with thelicenses they possess. Quite a goodexample would be the recent 'frequencyswitch' performed between BBTand 7 Days TV. BBT had a programminglicense for cable broadcasting, 7Days - a frequency for the over-the-airbroadcast for the territory of the capitalSofia. The two TV stations made adeal - so BBT can now be watchedwithout relying on cable distributors,whilst 7 Days became cable only. Bothnetworks changed their formats - BBTThis fall seems to be quite a dynamic season forBulgarian TV. A new big player is entering thestage - TV 2.went towards being the "TV of the capital"with more and more news emissions(the new manager of BBT is theformer Head of News for BulgarianNational Television, Simeon Vassilev, aman with a strong European background).7 Days moved to a new complexwith totally new studios and muchbetter equipment. "Entertainment,lifestyle, games, quizzes and somepolitics" is the new motto of 7 Days asopposed to the idealized image of TVas a socially engaged media that voicesthe opinion of different facets ofsociety.TV2 will start broadcasting onOctober 26 th . The length of the dailyschedule will be between 6 and 8hours, in the first 3 months. The contentwill be entirely and purely commerciallyoriented - some say that isjust a 'bait' to draw a larger audience.Who knows? For now, the only thingthat is certain is that there will be aspecial evening show (Monday toFriday) hosted by one of the most popular- others would use the word "notorious"- people in Bulgaria. His name isAzis, he is of a gypsy origin. By combininghis open homosexuality (assumedby some just as a "commercialtrick"), his eccentric outlook andstrong vocal abilities, he has becomethe biggest pop-folk star, even "icon" inBulgaria. So THE SHOW OF AZIS willdo its best to rival bTV's SLAVI'SSHOW (as featured previously in DIS-COP LINK).Such is the eagerly anticipatedaccent of TV2. Beside that, moviesand sitcoms will be aired as well assome very provocative foreign showsuch as OKNA, the famous and controversialRussian talk-show. }EASY WAY WITHOUT AIRBy Rastislav DurmanThe battle for frequencies and broadcastinglicenses in Serbia willhave its victors nowadays consideringthat the Broadcasting Council is aboutto end a several-years long licensingprocess. The number of licenses isextremely high for a country with lessthan 8 million viewers - four channelsof public service, plus 6 channels withnational coverage, 34 with regionalcoverage and 148 channels whichcould be seen locally. Despite a relativelypoor market, high competitionand huge operation costs over 400companies have applied for frequencylicense.What is the innovation on the broadcastingmarket in Serbia is theemergence of TV companies whichhad not even applied for a licence, butNot all TV companies in Serbia are interested interrestrial broadcasting.decided to broadcast their programmingvia cable operators. By doing thisthey both decrease their operatingcosts and avoid an extremely complicatedlicensing process for terrestrialbroadcasting.According to the current regulationsin Serbia, the BroadcastingCouncil issues a license for cable orsatellite broadcasting not based onpublic bids but solely upon the requestof the operator who is obliged to presentcomplete documentation, thesame that is also presented duringbids, yet he is not obliged to meet specificrequirements which broadcastinglicense applicants have to meet.In addition to the existing, primarilyspecialised TV channels on the cablenetwork which cannot be seen on terrestrialtelevision (F Travel, LT, TV Navigator,and Health Channel), TV companieswhich have not won the terrestrialbroadcasting licence will comeout with their programming offer onthe cable network. Since the networkcovers all major cities and towns inSerbia, the potentials of cable TV byfar surpass the potentials of terrestrialTV operating on the regional level. }46 DISCOP LINK • #11 • NOVEMBER 07