BCC postpones renewing licenses till after elections

The broadcasters whose licenses expire before the elections should not be afraid of ending their work. The Broadcasting Coordinating Council (BCC) set a moratorium over the contests for the licenses expiring within this period, Info-Prim Neo reports. “All the broadcasters, the licenses of which expire, will be able to work during the electoral campaign, unhampered,” said BCC's chairman Gheorghe Gorincioi at the end of the sitting the decision was adopted at. The Parliament has not yet set the parliamentary election day, but it is believed they will take place in March. On December 23, Pro TV Chisinau's is to expire, as the BCC had stated a new contest was to be held for the station's frequencies. The idea that Pro TV could not work in the electoral race has triggered a wave of warnings addressed to the Moldovan authorities: starting from media NGOs to EU commissioner Benita Ferrero Waldner. At it sitting of December 19, the BCC selected 6 candidates to be proposed to the Parliament to confirm three of them in positions of members of the Supervisory Board of public broadcaster Teleradio-Moldova. They are Viorel Cibotaru (running for a new mandate), Alexandru Grosu, Anatolie Popovici, former BCC chairman Ion Mihailo, Ghenadie Brega and Alexandru Burean (for a new mandate).