Cable Televisions Union of Georgia addressed the Parliament of Georgia to revise the conditions of the Must Carry principles in the Law of Georgia on Broadcasting. It became necessary after the recent developments in the Georgian media market.
For your information, in May 2017, the companies authorized on transit suddenly received the letter of ultimatum from the Company Media Rights Georgia (GMR), where the Company notified them that in near future they were about to receive the right on commercial distribution of the TV-Channels Rustavi 2, Comedy Channel, Marao, Imedi, Maestro and GDS. Unless the operators applied the Company to sign the contract before May 20, 2017, they would lose right to transit the signal. The GMR sent out the letter in the moment, when it had not received any authority from the broadcasting companies yet.
On May 16, on their side, the operators also sent their opinions to the Company Media Rights Georgia and clarified why they would not accept the proposal on commercial distribution of the TV-Channels and requested the Company to properly consider the immediate results of their decision before making final decisions. The address presented the main arguments of the operators why the paid transition of the channels was unfair. (see here http://cable-tv.ge/news/joint-address-of-the-cable-tv-companies-to-the-georgian-broadcasters.html) However, the Company did not take the opinions of the operators into account and on May 25 repeatedly sent out letter of ultimatum to the operators, where they demanded reimbursement for the dissemination of the TV-Channels' signals. They offered to charge each customer of the operator with 4 GEL (excluding VAT) per TV-set. In the same letter, they demanded the oeprators to immediately apply to the company or otherwise they will no longer receive the signal. Considering the above-mentioned situation and requirements, nowadays, the transiting companies have to consider the option of removing the above-listed TV-channels from their cable networks.
The Cable Televisions Union of Georgia believes it is necessary to introduce amendments into the Article 401 of the Law of Georgia on Broadcasting, which refers to the so-called Must Carry principle.
As you remember, this particular provision of the law was put in force through some speculations. During the election period, namely in 2012, Rustavi 2, Imedi and a few other broadcasting companies compelled the Global TV, the company authorized on transit, to switch off their signals. Under the oppression of that time authority, some operators switched off several opposition TV-channels. As a result of oppression and huge effort of the international community, diplomatic corps and nongovernmental organizations, the new article (Article 51) was added to the Election Code of Georgia and the principle of the so-called Must Carry and Must Offer were established, which, on the one hand, obliged the operators to insert the national broadcasters in all their packages and on the other hand, the entity authorized on the transit of broadcasting could transit their broadcasting for free without the permission of the TV-Company.
On July 12, 2013, the Law on Broadcasting was amended, which introduced the notion of the Must Transit and enabled the national broadcaster to request the entity authorized on the transit of broadcasting insert the TV-Channel in all its packages and the operator is obliged to satisfy this request. If the operator does not wish to insert the TV-Channel in its network, it needs permission from the broadcasting company, which may turn up a paid service. In accordance to this law, even the GPB can request to sign contract on paid transit that is absolutely illogical considering that it is funded from the state budget. In 2015, the so-called Must Carry and Must Offer priciples were removed from the Election Code, that creates risk that during the pre-election period we may receive even more complicated situation than we had in 2012.
In the opinion of the operators and the Union, in respect of the international acts and practice, it is inadmissible that the law allowed the national broadcaster to claim fees for the transition of the signal. In the EU member states, the broadcasters, which enjoy the so-called Must Carry principle, are banned to request fees from the operators, as it contradicts the essence of this principle.
We believe, it is necessary to introduce amendments into the law and revise the principles of obligatory transit so that the broadcasters and entities authorized on the transit of broadcasting were placed in equal conditions. The amendments are necessary, as the existence of the obligatory transit principle already restricts business and commercial interests of the companies as they lack possibility to freely and independent regulate the packages they offer to the customers. Thus, it is necessary that they also had relevant rights.
Considering all above-stated circumstances, the Georgian Cable Televisions Union sent a petition to the Parliament of Georgia to prepare the legislative initiative to place the broadcasting and transit companies in equal conditions. The Union submitted the concrete project to the Parliament how the principles of the Must Carry and Must Offer shall be regulated. The amendments will ensure defense of the interests of both transit companies and their customers and will exclude discriminatory approach to different players as well as establishment of non-competetive environment in the market. Otherwise, the developments in telecommunication and media market will have negative impact on enterprises, population and the country's reputation.
Cable Televisions Union of Georgia hopes their proposal will be considered and processed soon and the problem will be resolved on the legislative level.
