Eleven TV channels were fined for not ensuring the required quota of local programs in the Romanian language during prime time. The fines imposed by the Audiovisual Council total 332,000 lei, IPN reports.

The monitoring of national public and private audiovisual media service providers was conducted after the president of the Audiovisual Council Liliana Vițu turned her attention to this aspect.

The monitoring results show the public TV channel “Moldova 1” and the channels “Jurnal TV” and “TV 8” haven’t committed violations. Other TV channels broadcast audiovisual programs for less than 8 hours a day on average. During the first broadcasting period, they transmitted less than 50% of the own production and the local programs in Romania represented less than 80% in the case of media services, while the volume of local programs broadcast during prime time didn’t reach 75%.

For the violations of the audiovisual legislation, the 11 TV channels were imposed fines of 10,000 to 14,000 lei. These are: “Canal 5”, “Canal 2”, “Canal 3”, “Publika TV”, “Mega”, “Familia”, “Primul în Moldova”, “Accent TV”, “TV 6”, “Orhei TV” and “Pro TV Chișinău”.

The penalized audiovisual media service providers were obliged to broadcast the text of the penalty (audio and/or video) during the next 48 hours of the taking of the penalty decision during prime time at least three times, one time during the main newscast.