There is bad situation in Armenia`s public multiplex caused by TV  companies` large debts - Tigran Hakobyan

ArmInfo. The situation in the public multiplex in Armenia is very bad, caused by the large debts that the country's television companies have accumulated. Chairman of Armenia's National Commission on TV and Radio (NCTR)   Tigran Hakobyan stated  at a press conference on January 30.

According to him, among those who have accumulated debts are the  following TV channels: "Armenia", "Svobodnye Novosti", "Dar 21" and  A-TV. According to him, a debt repayment schedule has been proposed  for some debtors, and the repayment process has already begun,  leaving only one television company - Free News with very large debts  - against which the Ministry of Technology intends to resort to tough  measures.

However, as Hakobyan emphasized, it is very difficult to blame the  television companies for this, since the same "Armenia" TV channel,  which has always received serious profit from advertising and other  sources, is now operating at a loss. The head of the commission noted  that a similar situation had developed in other television companies  as well. The reason for this was that currently there are no longer  monopolies in the market, and advertisers prefer other platforms,  including social networks. "According to our calculations, viewing of  TV programs decreases by 3-5% annually. But taking into account the  fact that the public multiplex serves the public interest, which is  associated with state interests, information wars, etc., a search is  underway for mechanisms to solve problems with unprofitability TV  companies so that they operate normally and profitably," said the  head of the commission.

He noted that just a few years ago, the right to place advertising  was returned to the Public Television of Armenia, which was opposed  by the Commission, which believed that PTA funding should come from  the state budget. But since the right to place advertising was  returned to the TV channel, the PTA received 700 million drams in  advertising fees in 2023 alone. Meanwhile, the field is expanding,  the number of TV channels is growing, and accessibility to  advertising is decreasing.

Hakobyan also pointed to the law adopted 1.5 years ago banning  advertising of winning games, which led to the loss of about 800  million drams by television and radio companies. "These bans have led  to the fact that both television and radio companies have suffered  significant losses. To support them, we propose to establish funds  with the participation of both public and private capital and  international partners, with the participation of which it would be  possible to finance, for example, children's, educational and  cultural programs," said Hakobyan, pointing, for example, to  200-episode cartoons that help improve the level of education among  children. If the necessary funds are available, these series could be  translated into Armenian with high quality and offered to television  companies. "It is also necessary to keep in mind the transformation  of China into a hegemonic country, and learning the language of this  state can also have a positive impact on teaching Chinese through  educational programs," the head of the Television and Radio  Commission emphasized.