Media business operations

Daily newspaper Danas reports: a "heretic" open letter is circulating on the Internet calling on citizens not to accept from postal workers any envelopes sent by courts because they contain lawsuits related to unpaid TV fees. "These claims are legally expired and also illegal. Do not fail for this scam, because if you receive the envelope you will become a part of the procedure of forced collection of unpaid debt", says the letter. The same topic was discussed by the president of the Hungarian Civic Alliance, Laslo Rac Sabo, who also said that 55% of Vojvodina citizens are paying the TV fee, while in Central Serbia this percentage is much smaller and amounts to less than 20% of citizens. For this reason, the political party demands that the National Parliament of Serbia change the legal obligation to pay the TV fee. The Hungarian Civic Alliance has also asked the Constitutional Court of Serbia to examine the constitutionality of this obligation, but has received no response so far.
(Danas, 19.01.2012, Vecernje Novosti, NUNS, 20.01.2012)

In the territory of Serbia, the TV fee is being paid by 41% of households on average. It is most regularly paid in the capital city and in Vojvodina, where the payment rate in 2011 was 57-75%. On the other side, the worst results have been achieved in the region of Kraljevo, with an average payment rate of 18%, and in the South Serbia, where the rate was 15%. According to officials, the collected TV fee makes for 60% of the total income of Radio-Television Serbia (RTS).
(Politika, NUNS, 20.01.2012)

Radio-Television Serbia (RTS) has submitted to the Primary Court in Cacak proposals for enforced collection of claims against 300 individuals from the city who have not been paying the TV fee. Apart from Cacak, lawsuits against citizens have been submitted only in the areas of Valjevo and Belgrade.
(Pregled, 25.01.2012, Politika, Vecernje Novosti - Srbija, NUNS, 30.01.2012)

A legal process has been initiated before the Primary Court in Cacak with the aim to establish the veracity of documents on the basis of which Radio-Television Serbia is trying to collect the TV fee from 300 citizens of Cacak who have not regularly paid it.
(Blic - Srbija, 01.02.2012)

A part of the property of TV Valjevo Plus will again be auctioned on January 23 in accordance with legally enforceable verdicts related to unpaid salaries. Former employees of the station won the legal process already in 2010. The station had been sued by 11 employees and its bank account was blocked in the amount of 2.4 million dinars. Its total debt is at least three times this amount, the last news programme was aired by the station on January 20 of the last year, while its programme has recently disappeared from cable distribution systems due to seizure of a part of its equipment.
(Blic - Srbija, 21.01.2012, Pregled, NUNS, 23.01.2012)

During recent years, TV stations have been violating the law each time they sold up to one hour of their programme time to political parties in the run-up to elections. The Law on Advertising clearly stipulates that advertising blocks must not last more than 12 minutes on private TV stations or six minutes on Radio-Television Serbia (RTS) and Radio-Television Vojvodina (RTV). According to data from the agency AGB Nielsen, during the election campaign in 2008 the citizens of Serbia were forced to watch paid time slots lasting no less than 10 days (three days and 10 hours in total during the campaign for the last presidential election). The Republic Broadcasting Agency (RRA) allowed 120 minutes a day of paid time slots during parliamentary elections, and 90 minutes a day during the presidential election.
(Blic, 23.01.2012, Vecernje Novosti, Dnevnik, NUNS, 27.01.2012)

The correspondent's office of Radio-Television Serbia (RTS) in Pozarevac was almost cut off from the electric power network because of unpaid bill amounting to 500,000 dinars. Journalists and cameramen were surprised to hear from technicians that they were going to be cut off from power lines. The management of RTS promised to pay the whole debt in the beginning of the following week.
(Vecernje Novosti - Srbija, NUNS, 23.01.2012)

Will the journalists from the newspaper Suboticke Novine be forced to find new premises? As of 31 October 2011, the Findomestic Bank has the right to sell the mortgaged business premises of the editorial office of the newspaper with an area of around 400 square meters. Unofficial sources claim that the bank is already looking for a buyer of this real estate. The property owned by Suboticke Novine has been mortgaged several times since 2010. At the moment, the building that has been the home of the newspaper for more than 60 years is now under mortgage involving three banks – the Findomestic Bank, the Erste Bank and the Unicredit Bank.
(Politika, NUNS, 23.01.2012)

As a part of its pre-election activities, the Municipal Board of the Democratic Party in Apatin analyzed the reporting of local media outlets – TV Apatin and Novi Glas Komune – about the party's activities. Reporting of these local media outlets – which is mostly financed from the local budget – was deemed utterly unsatisfactory and unfair. Because of this, the Democratic Party will demand the relevant municipal authorities to stop financing these media outlets.
(Blic - Vojvodina, 04.01.2012, Dnevnik, 19.01.2012)

In accordance with an order issued by the Eparchy of Zica, which established RTV Logos in Trstenik in 2004, the station's radio and TV transmitters have turned off. The transmitters will be returned to the Republic Broadcasting Agency (RRA), while 21 former employees of TV Logos will receive compensation via the National Employment Agency. Shortly before the New Year the employees received all their late salaries and all their social security contributions for the last six years were paid.
(Blic - Srbija, 11.01.2012)

Minority stockholders of the graphic company "Jedinstvo" in Novi Pazar demand that the prosecutor's office, the police, the tax administration, relevant inspectorates, the Commercial Court in Kraljevo, the Republic Broadcasting Agency (RRA), the Republic Agency for Electronic Communication (RATEL), relevant ministries, journalistic associations and OSCE help them to receive their unpaid and late salaries and stocks. The authors of the open letter also demand that it be investigated how the founder of TV Jedinstvo was simply deleted from the register while the station's programme is still being aired, and which bank accounts and funds are being used to pay obligations toward the RRA and RATEL.
(Danas, UNS, NUNS, 18.01.2012)

The protest in TV Avala has escalated. The production director, Mane Sijan, entered the control room of the station and tried to stop the broadcasting of the programme. Sijan called the police and demanded that the striking journalists be thrown out of the building. Two police inspectors came to the station in response to Sijan's call. They concluded that the case was not within their authority because the strike was legal, meaning that they were not allowed to end it.
(Radio B92, 06.01.2012)

Employees of TV Avala, who have been striking for three weeks because of unpaid salaries, wrote an open asking the president of Serbia, Boris Tadic, and the prime minister, Mirko Cvetkovic, to help them. The letter was signed by the president of the Trade Union of Serbian Journalists, Dragana Cabarkapa.
(Press, Politika, 24 sata, Pravda, NUNS, UNS, 09.01.2012)

The Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) considers that one of the basic preconditions for a solution to the strike of TV Avala employees would be to establish the true owners of the station. NUNS, supported by strikers' demands, calls on the authorities to investigate the ownership structure of TV Avala as soon as possible.
(NUNS, Pregled,09. 01.2012, Dnevnik, 10.01.2012)

The Striking Board of TV Avala informed the members of the Council of the Republic Broadcasting Agency (RRA) and the Republic Agency for Electronic Communication (RATEL) about the situation in the station and the reasons behind the strike that began on 22 December. The Board called the meeting "very successful". Both agencies have announced that they intend to "take all measures within their authority".
(24 sata, 11.01.2012)

The only measure that the Republic Broadcasting Agency (RRA) can take in relation with TV Avala, whose employees have been striking for more than 20 days, is to annul its broadcasting license. However, in the words of one of the members of the Council of RRA, Goran Pekovic, the Agency does not want that to happen and it will seek other solutions for the TV station that has a national broadcasting license and whose bank account is currently blocked.
(Politika, Danas, Dnevnik, 11.01.2012)

The owners of TV Avala made a promise at a meeting with representatives of the Republic Broadcasting Agency (RRA) to pay the remaining unpaid social security contributions for all employees of the station, as well as one and a half salaries until 1 February and another two salaries until 1 March of this year. The owners of the station pointed out that Bojana Lekic's request that her employment contract not be extended was accepted, and that Dusan Pancic was appointed as the new editor-in-chief. The president of the Council of RRA, Bishop Porfirije, said that during the last three weeks the programme of TV Avala had completely deviated from what they were licensed to broadcast, and that if the situation persists there "will be no other solution but to annul the station's license".
(Danas, 12.01.2012)

The worst possible scenario of TV Avala's broadcasting license being taken away will be avoided because the owners of the station – Johannes Werner Krauss of Greenberg Invest, Danko Djunic, Zeljko Mitrovic and Dragan Sagovnovic from the Economic Institute – gave firm guarantees during a meeting with representatives of the Republic Broadcasting Agency (RRA) that they would solve all problems in the course of the following two months, said the Bishop of Jegar Porfirije, who is the president of the Council of RRA, after a one and a half-hour meeting with all owners of TV Avala.
(Politika, Press, 12.01.2012)

Employees of TV Avala informed today the representatives of the OSCE Mission about the strike in the media company.
(24 sata, Tanjug, Pravda, Danas, 12.01.2012)

TV Avala employees have rejected the offer that they received via the media from the owners of the station and announced their intention to continue the strike.
(b92.net, UNS, 12. 01.2012, Press, 24 sata, Pravda, Politika, Dnevnik, Blic, Pregled, Danas,UNS, 13.01.2012)

Employees of TV Avala issued a public statement saying that they had not received a single penny from the station's owners, despite being owed five and a half monthly salaries and six months' worth of author fees, and that one of the station's owners had told them at the meeting held on Monday that money was not available and that it was uncertain when the situation might change.
(Press, Politika, NUNS, b92.net, UNS, Dnevnik, 18.01.2012)

The owners of TV Avala, whose employees have been striking for a month because of unpaid salaries, are negotiating with a major international company about the sale of the national broadcaster's control package. If the sale of the TV station takes place, the owners would be obliged to inform the Republic Broadcasting Agency (RRA) beforehand and get its approval of the sale. The director of the Labor Inspectorate, Predrag Perunicic, said to daily newspaper Danas that the labor inspector had ordered the employer in TV Avala to pay the unpaid salaries for months of July, August, September, October and November 2011 to its employees within eight days. In his words, if the employer fails to pay the salaries to employees with this deadline, the inspector will initiate a legal process against them.
(Danas, 21.01.2012)

The Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS) has launched a campaign of solidarity with the employees and contributors of TV Avala, who have been striking for 34 days. Their employer owes them five and a half monthly salaries and six monthly author fees. The first to respond to the campaign was the Independent Professional Trade Union of RTV and Film Professionals of Serbia which gave 50,000 dinars.
(24 sata, Danas, 25.01.2012)

The Association of Broadcasters of West Serbia, whose membership includes 17 radio and TV stations, demands that the Republic Broadcasting Agency (RRA) extend the deadline for payment of fees for usage of broadcasting frequencies until the closure of pirate stations. The Association has also announced its intention to sue the Agency. The owner of RTS AS from Sabac, Marinko Urosevic, said that the most significant unlicensed broadcasters were the following: Radio Balkan, Radio Narodni, Radio Raka Esinger, Radio Link, Radio Kosmos and Radio Zavicaj. A former member of the RRA, Velja Milosevic, emphasized that the Agency had the equipment required to easily locate the illegal broadcasters, but that it had never used this capability. "The law clearly stipulates that the police is obliged to assist in closure of illegal radio and broadcasting stations, but there have been only a few such cases." A member of the Council of RRA, Milos Rajkovic, said that the Agency was closing down pirate broadcasters and did not want to comment on the lawsuit against the Agency to be filed by the Association of Broadcasters of West Serbia.
(Beta, Pregled, Danas, Press, Pravda - Srbija, Politika, NUNS, 25.01.2012, Vecernje Novosti - Srbija, 26.01.2012)

The Republic Broadcasting Agenc has initiated a procedure for annulment of the national broadcasting license of TV Avala because of late payment of required broadcasting fees, sources from the Agency told the daily newspaper Blic.
(Beta, Fonet, Blic, NUNS, 26.01.2012, Beta, Danas, Alo!, Press, Politika, Pravda, Pregled, 27.01.2012)

Employees of TV Avala have continued their strike caused by unpaid salaries, says the representative of the employees, Nikola Vukomanovic, adding that it is still unclear where the station's programme is being prepared and by whom. On Friday, the employees called the Labor Inspection, which was "unable to establish who is broadcasting the programme".
(24 sata, Politika, 31.01.2012)

In 2011, the Public Company Emisiona Tehnika i Veze delivered TV Avala invoices in the total amount of 68 million dinars for the performed services. TV Avala has not paid them a single penny, which is why the station has been sued.
(Politika, 31.01.2012, NUNS Newsletter, 01. 02. 2012)

Employees of TV Avala, who have received one and a half salary and one monthly author's fee, have continued their strike, while the Council of the Republic Broadcasting Agency expects that the station's programme will soon be harmonized with the obligations accepted by the broadcaster as a part of the licensing procedure.
(Dnevnik, NUNS, 01.02.2012)

TV Avala employees, who have been on strike for more than 40 days because of unpaid salaries, had a meeting with the TV station's director, Dusan Pancic, who asked them to give him a list of demands for normalization of operations – said Nikola Vukomanovic, the president of the striking board, to daily newspaper Danas. He added that the employees will not continue their work until they receive at least three salaries.
(Danas, NUNS, 01.02.2012)

The Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS) warns that the management of TV Avala has violated the Law on Strike by preventing the striking employees to enter the station's building. The UNS calls on the Ministry of Labor to publicly state its position about the banning of strikers from entering the building of TV Avala.
(UNS, NUNS, 27. 01.2012)

The mayor of Nis, Milos Simonovic, denied the latest report of the National Auditing Agency claiming that the city of Nis had repeatedly violated the Law on Public Procurement and the Law on the Budget System. It was asked whether "the contract on business cooperation with Infobiro, which is often associated with the Democratic Party, has been concluded on the basis of any official or informal instruction", and the reply was that "the city has concluded the contract with Infobiro because representatives of national media outlets in Nis – i.e. their correspondent's offices – had themselves pointed out the difficulties in reporting on all events; the intention behind this was to make the events in Nis easily available to everyone".
(Danas, NUNS, 16.01.2012)

After eight months, the damages paid by daily newspaper Danas (amounting to 942,000 dinars) on the basis of solidary responsibility for articles published in three daily newspapers have not been made available because the bank accounts of these newspapers are blocked. Lawyers say that the only way to achieve this would be to initiate bankruptcy proceedings against legal persons that were the publishers of Glas Javnosti and Kurir.
(Danas, UNS, NUNS, 09.01.2012)

After the adoption of the Law on Cinematography, the minister of culture and information, Predrag Markovic, said that "after 20 years this area has now been regulated. It is good that journalistic associations reacted preventively. It is their job. It has turned out that the Law does not impose any new fees or taxes on the media or the citizens. On the contrary, we have adopted a model that would protect the electronic media".
(Vecernje Novosti, 12.01.2012)

On the basis of a municipal decision, the Assembly of the Municipality of Pirot has announced a public contest for allocation of 22.5 million dinars to local electronic and print media.
(Vecernje novosti – Srbija, NUNS, 18.01.2012, Press, 19.01.2012)

On 30 December 2011, ANEM sent a letter calling on the Republic Broadcasting Agency (RRA) to act within its authority and adopt regulations that would more clearly define the insufficiently precise provisions of the Law on Advertising – the ones related to advertising and sponsorship on TV and radio.
(UNS, 13. 01.2012)

During the period 10 February to 29 February 2012, the Media Center will offer a 10% discount on organization of press conferences (in all three halls).
(MC, 25.01.2012)

The Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS) warns that the multiple increase in SOKOJ tariffs has threatened the survival of the local media. The press statement emphasizes the Association's dissatisfaction with the decision of the Administrative Court to reject the lawsuit filed by the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) against the Committee for Copyright and Related Rights.
(BETA, Alo!, Pregled, Pravda, NUNS, 31.01.2012)

Serbian companies, most of all export-oriented companies, will have at their disposal in the first quarter of the year 250 million euros of favorable loans from the Apex Loan of the European Investment Bank, said the state secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Goran Radosavljevic. These loans will be injected in the Serbian economy, mostly in export-oriented companies. They will also serve as a support to manufacturers of car parts, expected to become an export-oriented industry, and will include 30 million euros intended to support the media sector during the crisis.
(Vecernje Novosti, 26.01.2012)

During the auditing of activities of the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the National Auditing Agency has come to a conclusion that state funds were used to pay the Ringier company for publication of articles. The company owns daily newspapers Blic and Alo!. The Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning concluded a contract on research with the publishing company Ringier, despite the fact that the company had not been registered for such business activities. In the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the auditors discovered that the largest entry in the expenses, marked as "other media services", was paid to Ringier. It amounted to 590,000 dinars and was paid without any contract.
(pistaljka.rs, UNS, 17.01.2012)

Privatization

The owner of "Pink Media Group", Zeljko Mitrovic, has confirmed that negotiations with several companies about the sale of TV Pink are ongoing. The company says that negotiations have been held with companies RTL, Ringier Aksel Springer, and Mid Europa Partners (which owns cable networks SBB and Total TV). Zeljko Mitrovic does not intend to sell all stocks of Pink and will retain some of them. The money from the sale of television stocks will be used by Mitrovic to pay debt, which now stands at over 100 million euros.
(Vecernje Novosti, Press, Blic, Kurir, Politika, Pravda, Dnevnik, Alo!, 21.01.2012)