Tuesday, January 8 2019 15:53

ArmInfo. The conditions and requirements for a private multiplexer, stipulated by the law of the RA "On Television and Radio", are unrealistic and not attractive for  business. This is stated in the statement of a number of journalistic  organizations of Armenia.

According to the authors of the statement, some provisions of the  current law do not contribute to the development of television and  radio. This is evidenced by the results of the tender that lasted for  almost half a year to identify the operator of a digital relay  network. At the tender, the results of which were announced at the  end of last year, not a single application was submitted. Moreover,  this is the third unsuccessful competition, the previous two were  announced in 2016 and in 2017.

Meanwhile, according to the authors of the statement, the failure of  each competition means the preservation of the state monopoly on  operator activity in the field of public digital network, which will  continue for another year. In this regard, there remains an uncertain  question about 10 regional broadcasting companies, which as a result  of short-sighted policies were out of the digitalization process,  continuing their activities in analog mode and waiting for the  emergence of a private multiplexer in the market.

"In essence, a situation has been formed in which a new multiplexer  is needed, but not a single application is submitted to the tender,  and the tenders are formal and have no prospects," the statement  reads.

The document calls on the National Assembly of Armenia of a new  convocation to radically review the provisions of the current law "On  Television and Radio", and the government of the country, together  with the commission on television and radio, taking into account  international experience and proposals of journalists on the  development of the sphere.

Representatives of the Committee signed the statement for the Defense  of Freedom of Expression, Yerevan Press Club, and the Center for  Media Initiatives, the Asparez Journalist Club and others.  Earlier,  Grigor Amalian, General Director of the "Television and Radio  Broadcasting Network of Armenia" CJSC, reported that no one is  entering the private TV multiplexer market due to the limited market.   According to him, in Yerevan there are only two free frequencies for  TV channels. The existing channels are reducing the audience, and  with it advertising, because everything goes to the Internet.   Digital television is a technology for transmitting television image  and sound using a video signal and a sound signal using digital  channels. The basis of modern digital television is the MPEG data  compression standard. The differences between digital television and  analog TV are in increasing the noise immunity of the transmission  and recording paths of television signals, reducing the transmitter  power, increasing the number of TV programs, including in the same  frequency range, etc.