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Mihail Iacob specifies that the signal from Primul in Moldova in the III TV analogue network is no longer broadcast upon request of the beneficiaries of Telesistem Company holding the broadcasting license for this channel. Radiocomunicații General Director affirms he is unaware of the reason for the provider’s decision. He adds that, after the signal ceased, many viewers called accusing the company of deliberately shutting it down. “When we disconnected the analogue, the phone at Radiocomunicații was red-hot with calls, insults, and so on. I mean, they were blaming us for disconnecting it, just like in case with TVR Moldova [whose analogue signal ceased in January 2021 – author’s note],” Mihail Iacob has told us.
Stanislav Vijga, Primul in Moldova administrator, refused to provide any details on the cessation of the signal to Media Azi. “We are currently clarifying this issue and keep corresponding with them [Radiocomunicații – author’s note.]. We do not comment on it yet,” Vijga has replied.
Primul in Moldova was monitored by the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) and the Broadcasting Council (BC) during the campaign before the early parliamentary elections held on July 11. The results of the IJC’s latest monitoring reveal that the TV channel “demonstrated a tendentious and biased behavior in relation to the Electoral Bloc of Communists and Socialists (EBCS).” On July 15, the BC fined Primul in Moldova 10 000 lei for non-compliance with the broadcasting license provisions after examining the second report on monitoring the TV channel during the campaign.
Primul in Moldova ceased broadcasting in the state network in the analogue format a week after the election, as a result of which the EBCS found itself in the opposition. In October 2019, the Broadcasting Council approved the request from Accent TV channel on changing its name to Primul in Moldova due to the fact that it had obtained a contract for the retransmission of Pervii Kanal, a channel from Moscow. A month later, Prime TV (which also broadcast Pervii Kanal’s content) owned by Vlad Plahotniuc, the former leader of the democrats, refused from the national frequency in the analogue system. In December 2019, Primul in Moldova and TVR Moldova won the right to use national frequencies in the analogue terrestrial format.
According to the latest public data provided by MR MLD, the TV audience measurement authority, since August 2020, Primul in Moldova ranks third among the most watched TV stations, and is preceded by RTR Moldova and NTV Moldova.
According to Primul in Moldova channel statement regarding the editorial policy before the early parliamentary elections, Telesistem TV has two owners: Vadim Ciubara from Moldova, with a share of 49%, and Igor Chaika, a businessman and son of Yury Chaika, the former General Prosecutor of Russia, who owns 51% of shares of Media Invest Service, the Russian company which is the founder of Telesistem TV.
DISCONNECTING THE ANALOGUE SIGNAL: “MISSION IMPOSSIBLE” FOR THE MOLDOVAN AUTHORITIES
Mihail Iacob affirms that he has informed the Broadcasting Council of the fact that there is only one functional analogue TV network left at the national level, through which Moldova 1 broadcasts. In addition, according to him, there are other channels using the analogue signal in certain areas, for instance, TV5 in Chisinau, Publika TV on some frequencies, and a number of local channels.
The authorities of the Republic of Moldova have repeatedly postponed definitive cessation of the analogue terrestrial signal and switching exclusively to the digital signal, explaining such a decision by the lack of digital signal decoding devices and the fact that some residents of the country still own old TVs with simple antennae suitable only for receiving the analogue signal. Mihail Iacob mentions that currently, “no official decision on cessation of analogue TV broadcasting in the Republic of Moldova has been taken by the state authorities.” Adrian Lebedinschi, ex-chairman of the parliamentary committee in charge of the media, estimates that the deadline for the operation of the analogue signal is supposed to take place in September 2021.
