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How Much Do TV Channels Affiliated to Election Candidates Charge?
The conditions under which the candidates will be able to advertise were presented by 76 broadcasters to the Broadcasting Coordination Council and the Central Electoral Commission. Media Azi looked into all of them and found that the highest prices are set by the TV channels of the Democrat Vladimir Plahotniuc, the number one candidate on the PD list for the national constituency and also candidate for Nisporeni.
Thus, candidates must pay EUR 4,000 for one minute of advertising on Prime TV and EUR 2,000 for Publika TV. EUR 1,500 is the tariff for one minute of advertising on Canal 2 and Canal 3, officially owned by Oleg Cristal, Vladimir Plahotniuc’s political advisor.
The prices are not lower on TV channels affiliated to Ilan Sor, managed by journalist Dumitru Chitoroaga, proxy representative of the Sor Party. One minute of advertising on the Central Television costs EUR 1,500, and EUR 1,000 on Orhei TV.
Parties that want to appear on NTV Moldova and Exclusiv TV, owned by socialist MP, Corneliu Furculita, through Exclusiv Media, must pay EUR 500 for one minute. EUR 50 for one minute (including VAT) are charged by Accent TV, also affiliated to PSRM, managed by Stanislav Vijga who previously donated money to the Party of Socialists.
From EUR 1,000 to EUR 80
The cost of election advertising on RTR Moldova is EUR 1,000 per minute. The public TV channel, Moldova 1, charges EUR 900 per minute for election advertising, and Moldova 2 – EUR 150. Pro TV Chisinau charges EUR 840 per minute for broadcasting election information.
EUR 500 is the tariff for broadcasting of one minute of election advertising on TV8. N4 television broadcaster established fee of EUR 480 for one minute of election advertising. Jurnal TV charges EUR 400. REN Moldova announced a price of MDL 7,800 (almost EUR 400),
followed by Noroc TV and Vocea Basarabiei charging EUR 300 per minute, Agro TV – EUR 200, ITV – EUR 180, TV Prim – EUR 80.
Offers From the Districts of the Republic of Moldova
Except for Ilan Sor’s TV channels in Orhei, other TV channels in the districts of the Republic of Moldova will charge less. TV Balti charges MDL 3,600 for one minute, Canal Regional – MDL 2,400, Elita TV from Rezina – MDL 1,500, Studio-L from Causeni – MDL 1,000, Media TV Cimislia – MDL 960, Art TV – MDL 900, Albasat from Nisporeni – MDL 580, Flor TV – MDL 500, RU TV – MDL 500, BAS TV – MDL 480, NTS – MDL 480, Zona M – MDL 400.
GRT public television broadcaster in Gagauzia charges MDL 600 for one minute of election advertising, Bizim Dalgamiz and ENI AI – MDL 500 during prime-time.
Why Do Some TV Channels Charge Exaggeratedly Big Amounts for Advertising?
Petru Macovei emphasised several issues regarding the tariffs announced by the TV channels, especially by the ones affiliated to those in power. He believes that TV channels set exaggerated prices to create a financial obstacle for opposition election contenders who will want to hit the small screens via those broadcasters.
‘In previous election campaigns, TV stations affiliated to politicians set very high prices from the beginning for one single purpose – not to give the opposition access to their TV channels. In this case, it is probably about those from ‘Acum’ Election Block (consisting of the Action and Solidarity Party, Platforma DA, PLDM civil society representatives), which didn’t have EUR 4,000 to pay for one minute of advertising. Prime TV has the largest audience, hence, they set huge prices for the market of the Republic of Moldova. In the Sor case, it is certain that his opponents could give reasons to his party’s audience that might make people not vote for him’, Macovei explained.
What Should the Authorities Do?
API executive director thinks that media and competition regulatory authorities do not perform their duties efficiently. ‘It is an absolutely abnormal situation and both the BCC and the Competition Council (CC) must intervene here because these prices during the election campaign are much higher than those of commercial advertising. The law, however, clearly provides that advertising during the election period must be at the same level with commercial advertising. Unfortunately, there is no regulation here. We live in a primitive system because those who must regulate the market are also controlled by politicians, who also control the media market’, Petru Macovei said.
The media expert said that policy of public television prices is also not friendly in relation to all election contenders, and citizens who do not have access to information and do not know other points of view from the public space are affected in this case.
How Much Airtime Can Election Contenders Get for Free?
According to Regulation on the coverage by the mass media of the parliamentary election campaign and of the Republican referendum, during the election campaign, national broadcasters must give the election contenders for the national constituency 5 minutes of TV broadcasting and 10 minutes on the radio free of charge, to present their election programs and inform the voters. The respective amount of airtime is given in other broadcasting space than that reserved for election advertising and election debates.
Besides, in election campaign (national constituency), public broadcasters must give the election contenders registered with the Central Electoral Commission and to the referendum participants one minute of free airtime per day for election advertising.
Furthermore, according to the document, for paid election advertising, each election contender (national constituency) /referendum participant is supposed to be given 2 minutes per day during election campaign on each broadcaster covering the election campaign. Each election contender (single-member constituency) may receive 2 minutes per day of paid airtime. Airtime for paid election advertising is granted to all election contenders/referendum participants at the same broadcasting hours without any discrimination.
Another paragraph of the Regulation states that tariff set by mass-media and/or advertising agencies for paid election advertising cannot exceed the tariff for commercial advertising set during the pre-election period.
What Are the National Coverage TV Channels?
According to the BCC, national coverage broadcasters are divided into two categories: over-the-air broadcasters and broadcasters using Digital Terrestrial Television System (Multiplex A), respectively.
The first category includes Moldova 1 public television broadcaster (uses the state network) and television broadcasters affiliated to the governing Democratic Party: Prime TV, Canal 2 (both use state networks), Publika TV (88% coverage) and Canal 3 (63% coverage).
The following 10 TV channels broadcast in the digital terrestrial television system with national coverage (each with 65% coverage): Moldova 1, TVR Moldova, Regional Canal, Publika TV, Canal 2, Canal 3, Prime, AGRO TV Moldova, TV and ITV.
