Coordination of Commercial Publishers on the Proposal Regarding HRT

The Coordination of Commercial Publishers, regarding the Report from the discussion on the Final Proposal of the Law on HRT, second reading, P.Z.E No. 586, of the Committee for Information, Informatization and Media, as the parent working body of the Croatian Parliament, congratulates on the expressed satisfaction with the unanimous acceptance of the amendments to the final proposal of the Law on HRT, as well as on their support for the adoption of the Law that the Government of the Republic of Croatia submitted to the Croatian Parliament.

Regarding Amendment II to Article 12 of the Law, we believe that it constitutes an injustice to Croatian music production and Croatian music, by applying a cumulative effect of 40 percent representation of domestic music on all radio and television channels. The media scene in Croatia records more than successful radio projects with 100 percent Croatian music. The Coordination further emphasizes that it is not satisfied with the abolition of the obligation for HRT to publicly announce the advertising price list and other commercial services, especially since almost all commercial publishers, although not legally obliged, have publicly displayed price lists. The obligation to publish price lists would essentially make HRT’s operations more transparent.

HRT does not have an equal starting position compared to commercial publishers as it regularly receives huge state subsidies, which gives it a privileged market position (AZTN opinion 2009). It is true that, regarding Amendment VII to Article 50 of the Proposal of the Law on HRT, the majority of EU member states allocate channels within multiplexes in a package to public television, but it is forgotten that European practice shows that channels in a package are also allocated to commercial television.

Although the unanimous acceptance of the final proposal of the Law on HRT (with the proposed amendments) also accepted the article that determines 4 minutes of commercial time per hour for the public publisher, during the period from 6 PM to 10 PM, the Coordination doubts the economic justification of such a solution. We interpret this fact as a political consensus achieved, which confirms the legal solution as submitted by the Government of the Republic of Croatia to the Croatian Parliament, stated in the letter of the Coordination of Commercial Publishers represented by Marjan Jurleka.