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During the meeting held on January 28, the BC examined two issues concerning the three TV channels in terms of the broadcasters’ duty to translate feature films, documentaries, and movies for children into Romanian. In one case, RTR Moldova and ITV channels were mentioned based on the petition of the Regulatory Association of Broadcasters, and the second one was based on the notification from Iulian Roșca and the above organization, which referred to the lack of translation of the broadcasts. The representatives of the association also referred to unfair competition in relation to other channels which complied with those provisions on the broadcasting media market.
The BC monitoring stated that both RTR Moldova and ITV Moldova broadcast feature films without dubbing or subtitles in Romanian, for which they were sanctioned 10 000 lei each. ITV Moldova representative, Natalia Poleacova, affirmed during the meeting that the company had failed to translate the movies received from their partners because of the short deadline before the broadcast. RTR Moldova representatives did not make any statements during the meeting.
This is not the first time media service providers deviate from such rules. The BC member, Artur Cozma, urged both the media institutions and the civil society to report economic issues, such as the mentioned examples, not only those with a political implication.
Moreover, the BC members obliged RTR Moldova and ITV channels to file a report on the steps taken to eliminate the problem, within 30 days from the issuing the decision.
“This is a serious breach of the legislation in force. I asked the Monitoring Directorate for all the monitoring done during the last two years. I would like to tell you that absolutely nothing has changed from one monitoring to another during the last two years. (...) The Broadcasting Council will be watching those who breach and defy the audiovisual legislation from now on,” Ala Ursu Antoci affirmed.
The case of Bravo TV was considered separately. This time, the monitoring again demonstrated that the TV channel had failed to comply with the provisions on Romanian dubbing or voiceover for movies for children, except for “Mi-Mi-Mishki” cartoons broadcast in the morning. Bravo TV representatives replied to the BC in a letter that the petitions were part of the strategy of General Media Group, the rival company, which was allegedly using the Council for its own purposes. The BC members rejected the accusations and sanctioned the TV channel with a fine of 15 000 lei for repeated non-compliance with the provisions in questions.
The member Corneliu Mihalache considers that, in this case, the BC should apply the most severe sanction and annul the right to operate on the market: “In case of this TV channel, unless a miracle happens – but it will not happen, that’s for sure – and dubbing does not start, we will have to proceed step by step, according to the law, to withdraw the broadcasting license to put an end to such an absolutely negative practice and such absolutely negative TV phenomena.”
Bravo TV will also be demanded to file a report on the steps taken in this regard to the BC.
