Suit filed by Romanian TV Corporation against Moldova’s broadcasting authority has begun

Although supposed to take place on January 24, the preliminary hearing in the suit filed by the Romanian Television Corporation (SRTV) against the Broadcasting Coordination Council of Moldova (BCC) has been postponed until February 7, to give the defending party more time to examine the claim. Janet Hanganu, lawyer for SRTV, has told reporters she believes the BCC is trying to delay the suit in this way. She requested the defendant to present the letter received by the BCC from the Ministry of Information Development, which had instructed the former to give the frequencies used by the Romanian channel TVR1 to another broadcaster by means of a public auction. Marcel Otel, attorney for the BCC, refrained from commenting to reporters on the case. In a subsequent press release of the BCC, the institution explained that “at the hearing in question, the representative for the BCC was handed the summons (with writs attached), and announced of date of the next hearing – 7 February 2008”. The scandal around TVR1 rebroadcasting originated on July 31 when the BCC decided to put the frequencies used to retransmit TVR1 for auction, on the grounds that SRTV had failed to honour its contractual obligations. Several BCC members as well as representatives of the civil society labelled the decision as illegal. On September 27, 2007, the BCC gave the license for the state-owned relay no.2 to a newly set up television channel, 2 Plus. In November 2007, SRTV took action in court against the BCC, seeking half a million euros for damages.