In today’s session, the Government approved the package of drafts on making amendments in the RA Laws on “Television and Radio Broadcasting”, and “Advertising”, and decided to submit it to the National Assembly. Accordingly, “it is prohibited to show ads on Public TV, with the exception of social ads, as well as the cases for mentioning information about the sponsors during transmission of cultural and sports broadcasting in compliance with Clause 6 of Article 14 of this Law, but no more than one sponsor for each culture and sports TV transmission.” As justified by the government, the adoption of the drafts would reduce the duration of the commercial ad over the Public TV, by providing the airtime to the transmission of informational broadcasts that are more important and have higher value. In the conversation with Aravot.am, a media expert, Mesrop Harutyunyan, welcomed the initiative. “We were telling long ago that there should be a Public television in Armenia, when the viewers have the right to watch the transmission without advertising intermissions. Sometimes, they say that it is impossible to get along only with the budget, but the fact is that the goals and objectives of the Public television are different from those of private broadcasting. They are clearly spelled out in the RA Constitution and the Law on Television and Radio Broadcasting, Article 28, according to which, educational, cultural, informational and other diversity shall be provided. This shall be the objective of the Public Television rather than gaining profit. In fact, in many countries, Public Televisions are working without ads,” said Mr. Harutyunyan.
Gohar HAKOBYAN
Photo from Mesrop Harutyunyan’s Facebook page
