The Broadcasting Coordination Council (BCC) will order including the channel TVR 1 in the cable programs schedule within 30 days of the day the Romanian Television Society (SRTv) submits an application to this effect. The agreement on the amicable settlement reached with TVR 1 after it filed a complaint against Moldova to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) was signed in Bucharest on September 12 and will come into force when the ECHR gives its consent, BCC chairman Marian Pocaznoi has told IPN.
He stated that the agreement signed by Chisinau and Bucharest includes three solutions for the retransmission of TVR1 on Moldova’s territory. Two of them are short-term solutions, while one of them is a long-term one. “The short-term solutions provide that when TVR1 applies to the BCC, the Council will oblige all the cable operators to retransmit the signal, while IS “Radiocom” will allocate a slot in the multiplex for Chisinau municipality, which is being tested,” said the BCC chairman. The long-term solution stipulates that from 2015, Moldova will offer a slot to TVR1 for national coverage in the digital multiplex.
It should be noted that the analogical network will stop working in Moldova in 2015. All the TV channels with national coverage will broadcast in digital format. “A multiplex includes 15 TV channels with national coverage. Moldova promised to offer one of the 15 TV channels to TVR 1 when it switches to digital terrestrial television,” said Marian Pocaznoi.
Currently, about 80% of Moldova’s population is connected to cable television. The cable operators will be obliged to include TVR1 in their offers. If they do not comply, they will be penalized in accordance with the Broadcasting Code.
The agreement to retransmit TVR1 is valid for a ten-year period. It will be extended automatically for new periods of 10 years if none of the sides demands terminating the accord at least six months before its expiration.
TVR 1 was banned in Moldova during the Communist government. SRTv submitted a complaint to the ECHR over violation of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights – freedom of expression. Moldova avoided being condemned, but the ECHR is to authorize the settlement reached by the two sides in an amicable way.
