“Risky venture” at the state level
The parliament held hearings today with the theme "The Broadcasting Digitalization Process and the Consequences of its Implementation in Armenia". Participating in the hearings were RA Minister of Economy Nerses Yeritsyan, chairman of the National Commission on Television and Radio Grigor Amalyan, as well as experts from the Council of Europe James Briggs and Alek Tomas.
"There are free cables in Armenia," announced today Alek Tomas at the National Assembly, apparently denying the claims by the National Commission on Television and Radio and the RA Minister of Communication according to which there are no free cables for announcing a tender.
He not only made an oral statement, but has also included it in his study that is posted on the website of the Ministry of Economy.
Chairman of the Yerevan Press Club Boris Navasardyan was aware of Alek Tomas's study and took note that the concluding section of the study on free cables was not included in the version on the website.
The Minister of Economy affirmed that a tender would be announced in July 2010 and television/radio stations would make the transition to digital broadcasting along with the analogous broadcasting, which will be maintained until 2015. By then the government will have provided 150,000 needy families with a package deal offering the minimum channels that people will be able to watch without encoding. Operators will have to be licensed.
After hearing the clarifications from the Minister and Grigor Amalyan, it became clear for deputy of the "Heritage" faction Armen Martirosyan that even if a television station receives licensing, that is still not a guarantee that it will broadcast its programs because the operator may refuse to broadcast the programs taking into account certain risks.
Experts of the field, particularly chairman of the "Internews-Armenia" NGO Nune Sargsyan, underlined that even the Minister and Amalyan don't have a clear picture of the nuances of the process.
President of the Yerevan Press Club Boris Navasardyan said that the hearings were a good test to be convinced that the experts of the field haven't taken into account rather important components. In other words, those implementing this process don't have a clear idea in terms of technical solutions and a general idea of the social component.
Boris Navasardyan doubts whether digital broadcasting will be possible in July 2010. "In that case, we will register that the issue of not holding a tender in 2008 was solved," said Boris Navasardyan.
