5th Channel Audiovisual Program Fined

The Television and Radio Regulation Commission held a meeting on June 30, with an agenda that included changing the frequency allocated to the "RADIO PRO" LLC company in the city of Aparan, applications for the termination of the cable broadcasting license of the "ARMKOM" LLC company, the adoption of an administrative act against the "SHARK" LLC company, and amendments to the annex approved by the Commission's decision No. 1-A dated January 3, 2022.

According to the information provided to Armenpress by the Armenian Television and Radio Commission, after the approval of the meeting agenda, the head of the Commission's legal support department presented the issue regarding the adoption of an administrative act against "SHARK" LLC, noting that the Commission, while exercising its assigned monitoring functions, recorded violations committed by the "5th Channel" audiovisual program of "SHARK" company concerning Article 10, Part 7 of the Law, as well as failure to comply with the general description of the purposes and activities outlined in the application, which are conditions of "SHARK" company's license.

As a result of the initiated administrative proceedings and continuous monitoring of the broadcasts, it was found that the coverage of the same topic concerning opposition rallies, including protests and public meetings, during "Haylour" news broadcasts constituted between 47% to 91.6%, while the law allows for a maximum of 25% airtime for such reporting. Additionally, the company failed to ensure principles of diversity, comprehensive information, and impartiality in news, socio-political, and analytical broadcasts.

In its written clarification and during the meeting, the company acknowledged that certain characteristics of violations of some articles of the Audiovisual Media Law may have occurred during the monitoring period, indicating agreement with some observations noted in the report and expressing an intention to correct them, while disagreeing with certain facts stated in the report.

The Commission emphasized the importance of the fact that the company is a licensed legal entity authorized by the Commission, responsible for providing audiovisual information to consumers and is obligated to comply with the legislative requirements regulating the audiovisual media sector. Failure to comply with legal provisions incurs responsibilities as stipulated by law; thus, non-compliance itself leads to accountability.

Based on the examination of the administrative case materials, two violations by the Broadcaster were recorded. Stemming from this and guided by several provisions of the Audiovisual Media Law, the Television and Radio Regulation Commission decided to impose an administrative penalty, a written warning, for exceeding the allowed airtime of 25% for coverage on the same subject in news reports. Furthermore, the Commission fined "SHARK" LLC in accordance with Article 57, Part 29 of the Audiovisual Media Law, amounting to two hundred times the established minimum wage.

Considering the application of "RADIO PRO" LLC regarding changing the allocated frequency in the city of Aparan and the letter from the Ministry of High-Tech Industry of Armenia, the Commission decided to replace the allocated frequency of 90.7 MHz with 95.1 MHz, as per its decision No. 50-A dated September 26, 2017. Additionally, the Commission has accepted the application of "ARMKOM" LLC for the termination of their cable broadcasting license and has declared void the cable broadcasting license No. 266 granted to "ARMKOM" in 2019.