Legislative Proposal States the Number of Public Broadcasters Cannot Be Fewer Than Two

Members of the National Assembly from the "Civil Contract" faction, Taguhi Ghazaryan and Sisak Gabrielyan, have proposed a change to the "Law on Audiovisual Media." The initiative states that the number of public broadcasters cannot be less than two.

Taguhi Ghazaryan noted that the new regulation would grant flexibility to the Government and the council of the Public Broadcaster. Armenia's National Assembly member Lilith Galstyan shared her opinion that the initiative is aimed against the "Shoghakat" spiritual and cultural television channel. According to her, the positive duty of the state is to educate the public, and if the state is keen on having a healthy society, it must make use of various forms of education.

She pointed out that there is a lack of argument for the effective use of financial resources, as well as a legislative requirement for educational-cultural and spiritual broadcasts. In response to this observation, the committee chairman Sisak Gabrielyan countered by stating that the positive obligation of the state is not to maintain channels but to deliver content to citizens.

“Currently, we have 5 frequencies or channels, 2 for radio and 3 for television. Each public broadcaster can have 2 or 3 channels. This is not about the channel; this is about the public broadcaster,” emphasized the co-author of the bill.

He assessed the problem as the targeted and purposeful use of funds collected from citizens' taxes. “I believe that public funds are spent inefficiently when there is no competition,” asserted the committee's vice-chairman.

Regarding the redistribution of educational-cultural broadcasts, Taguhi Ghazaryan mentioned that last year, the "Public Media Environment" foundation was established to distribute these broadcasts among different television channels and to finance them. The process will take place through a competition.

In discussing international practices, the co-author of the bill noted that many European countries have one or two public broadcasters, with very few countries having three. There are even countries that do not have a public broadcaster at all.

During the discussion, the issue of the politicization of the broadcast by the "Shoghakat" television channel was addressed. Deputy Minister of High-Tech Industry Gevorg Meliksetyan informed that the Public Broadcaster's Council had certain reservations regarding the initiative, which were discussed within the Government. Questions were raised about these reservations. The Government unanimously decided that it had no objections to the proposal. The draft law received a positive conclusion from the committee.