First ever: Audiovisual Council fines distributors in Gagauzia almost 200 thousand lei for failing to protect the national audiovisual space and for operating without permits
Members of the Audiovisual Council (AC) have imposed sanctions of 100,000 lei for failure to protect the national audiovisual space on distributors “Oguzsatlink” Ltd. and “ILK HALK TELEVIZIONU” Ltd. from the Autonomous Territorial Unit (ATU) Gagauzia. They retransmitted news and analytical programmes of TV channels from the Russian Federation and Belarus in violation of Article 17 of the Audiovisual Media Services Code (AMSC), according to a statement issued by the CA.
The total amount of the sanctions imposed by the CA at its meeting on Thursday 6 July is 186 000 lei.
“Oguzsatlink SRL” was fined 50 000 lei for retransmission of TV programmes from TV stations Первый канал, НТВ, Россия 1, РБК, Россия 24, Беларусь 24. “ILK HALK TELEVIZIONU” Ltd., likewise, retransmits CSMA-banned TV programmes from the channels Красная линия, НТВ, Россия 24, Беларусь 24. The penalty imposed on him was also 50 000 lei.
Distributors are required to stop broadcasting programmes that violate the country’s information security within 24 hours.
They were also fined for operating without a retransmission authorisation or broadcasting licence. “Oguzsatlink” Ltd. retransmits, contrary to the law, 58 television media services, and “ILK HALK TELEVIZIONU” Ltd. – 37. Both broadcasters have been fined 19 000 lei each for operating without a permit from the CA and will have to legalize their activity within 15 working days.
At the same time, “ILK HALK TELEVIZIONU” SRL, managed by Stepan Piron, was also fined 19 000 lei for broadcasting the TV channel “Первый народный” without a broadcasting licence.
Another distributor, “Steel Trading Group” SRL, was fined 29 000 lei for operating without a broadcasting licence in Glodeni. The CA decided to give it 15 working days to legalize its activity.
