Romanian Television Corporation could resume retransmission of TVR1 in Moldova from Monday

The Romanian Television Corporation (SRTV) has the right to broadcast again the television channel TVR 1 on the state-owned network No.2 and it could start the retransmission from Monday, February 18, Info-Prim Neo reports. On February 14, the Court of Appeals Chisinau suspend the decisions of the Broadcasting Coordination Council (BCC) under which the state-owned network No.2 was put up for tender and the results of the contest at which the network was allocated to another company were validated, Janet Hanganu, the representative of SRTV in the court, told Info-Prim Neo. According to her, now SRTV has the right to use the network to relay TVR1 in Moldova for the period of the trial, until a decision is made. The company that got the licence, Telefe M International Ltd, cannot use the network until the court takes a decision. Janet Hanganu explained that legally, SRTV can start to broadcast from February 14, but in order to have all the documents to hand and exclude possible misunderstandings, the Romanian company will wait until Monday to obtain the written conclusion. According to Hanganu, SRTV is ready to resume the transmission if there are no technical impediments. The BCC jurist could be found neither on the work telephone nor on the mobile when the news story was being written (February 14, 05.00pm). The scandal around TVR1 arouse on July 31, 2007 when the BCC decided to put the network No. 2 used to retransmit TVR1 in Moldova for tender on the grounds that SRTV had failed to honour its contractual obligations. A number of BCC members as well as representatives of the civil society described the decision as illegal. But the Council did not change it. On September 27, the BCC gave the license for the network to a newly set up television channel, 2 Plus. In November, SRTV took legal action against the BCC, demanding half a million euros for damages.