As far as I know, currently, in Serbia, two working groups are working on amendments to the Law on Information and the Law on Electronic Media. I read the Draft Law on Electronic Media and, knowing who the people are in the working group, I was quite surprised by the obvious intention of the authors to continue favoring the so-called cross-border channels owned by the United Group.

By the way, until now, I have written countless times about how this, quite good Law on Electronic Media, is being desecrated, violated, and not respected, which especially favors the channels of this media group.

Instead of respecting Serbian laws, they have the favor of REM, they still complain to many European institutions and officials, pointing out that they do not have equal working conditions in Serbia.

In addition, there are complaints about the freedom of the media and the alleged endangerment of their journalists, demanding that the so-called enable independent newspapers, including themselves, to write and report freely.

And for people to better understand how United Group’s TV channels have been robbing Serbia for years, because REM, which they often complain about, enables them to do so, I will explain using the example of three sports channels that are available to viewers in all countries in the region:

TV ARENA, EURO SPORT AND SPORT KLUB

  1. TV ARENA is registered in Serbia, has a license from the regulator, and is registered in the register of public media. It is domestic television: it pays compensation to REM, as well as to organizations that protect copyright and other rights (SOKOJ, OFPS, PI…). It pays taxes and employee contributions, and broadcasts advertisements on which the state charges VAT. The program is broadcast from the studio (master) in Belgrade, and the signal is sent to cable networks in Serbia, Montenegro, and Macedonia. In those two foreign countries, TV Arena rebroadcasts the unchanged program, the same as it is broadcast in Serbia. Arena cross-border television is there. In Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Slovenia, everyone broadcasts their program, with commercials from those countries, and there, ARENA is not cross-border television because it is not rebroadcasted from Serbia.
  2. EURO SPORT is broadcast from London, the picture (feed, with IT sound) arrives at the studio in Belgrade via satellite, where it is synchronized (comment inserted), returns to London, and then processed (picture and sound) is distributed to cable networks in Serbia. There are no reports or advertisements in the Serbian language on that channel, and that channel is cross-border and not under the jurisdiction of the Serbian regulator (REM) because it does not have its license and is not registered in the register of public media.
  3. SPORT KLUB broadcasts the program from Belgrade, where the studio is located (master, start of broadcasting). It is fictitiously registered in Luxembourg, but since it does not broadcast a program in Luxembourg, it cannot be a cross-border channel in Serbia.

REM and the United group claim that Sport Klub (as well as N1 and Nova S) is a cross-border television channel that allegedly sends the program it produces in Belgrade to Ljubljana, where it is packaged with Serbian commercials and then distributed it to cable networks in Serbia.

Since this “packaged” program is not broadcast in Slovenia, it cannot by law be cross-border in Serbia. This means that REM and United Group confirm that with this action, they are deceiving the public and state authorities with the intention that in Serbia, these channels avoid compliance with the Law on Electronic Media and the Law on Advertising and the jurisdiction of the Serbian regulator.

The conclusion is: Sport klub (N1 and Nova S) is not a domestic channel because it does not have a REM license, it is outside the legal and tax system of Serbia, and it is not a cross-border channel either because it broadcasts, and not, as they claim, rebroadcasts its program.

Sport Klub (N1 and Nova S) is a classic PIRATE CHANNEL in Serbia, which for years skillfully circumvents all the laws of this country and does so without any sanctions from the competent authorities.

Since the working group for drafting the Law on Electronic Media has prepared changes to the existing one, we will see whether something will finally change or whether these channels will be outlawed in the future.


*The views expressed in this column are the author’s personal views and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Media daily editorial staff.