Television stations. PHOTO: Dreamstime.com
The National Broadcasting Council (CNA) published, on Tuesday, the “must carry” list, which brings together the television stations that must be taken over this year by program distributors.
The list is available on the institution's website and includes the program services of the Romanian Television Society intended for the public in Romania, the television services whose retransmission obligation is established by international agreements to which Romania is a party, such as TV5 Monde, as well as the program services of private broadcasters, free to retransmit and without technical or financial conditions, ordered according to the annual audience index for the year 2025, writes Agerpres.
Also, the list includes local and regional program services belonging to private broadcasters under Romania's jurisdiction, as well as program services aimed at national minorities with a weight greater than 20%, belonging to private broadcasters under Romania's jurisdiction.
Among them is Erdely TV – a regional program in the Hungarian language, intended for the Hungarian minority in Romania, which covers the counties of Alba, Arad, Bihor, Bistrița-Năsăud, Brașov, Caraș-Severin, Cluj, Covasna, Harghita, Hunedoara, Maramureș, Mureș, Satu Mare, Sălaj, Sibiu and Timiș.
Among the 57 private stations available for retransmission included in the “must carry” list are:
- Romania TV
- Reality Plus
- B1 TV
- National TV
- Ethno TV
- Trinity TV
- Kiss TV
- Euronews Romania
- Music Channel
- Metropolis TV
- Moldova TV.
At the same time, the “must carry” list also includes the public services of the Romanian Broadcasting Society, as well as national and local, private broadcasting programs.
They can be accessed from the list of audiovisual licenses for terrestrial and electronic communications networks, including satellite and internet, of broadcasting program services.
Absence-surprise
Following a request, Digi 24 is no longer on this list, for “commercial” reasons.
“It is a decision that is strictly commercial and has nothing to do with CNA, just as it had nothing to do with CNA neither with Digi 24's licensing request nor with entering must carry,” said CNA vice-president Valentin Jucan at Tuesday's meeting.
The announcement of the day on television. A radical decision taken by Digi 24 caused controversy at CNA: “I, personally, consider it a total lack of proximity to the truth”
The “must carry” principle
The “must carry” principle is regulated by Article 82 of the Broadcasting Law and imposes on cable operators the obligation to retransmit certain television services. This principle applies to both cable and DTH operators as well as online platforms that retransmit program services.
Article 82, paragraph 1 of the Audiovisual Law provides that “Any distributor that retransmits program services through electronic communications networks has the obligation to include in its offer the program services of the Romanian Television Society intended for the public in Romania, as well as other program services, free for retransmission and without technical or financial conditions, of private broadcasters under the jurisdiction of Romania, within the limit of 25% of the total number of program services distributed through the respective network, as well as the television services whose retransmission obligation is established by international agreements to which Romania is a party. The tie-breaking criterion for private broadcasters is the descending order of the annual audience index”.
Television stations. PHOTO: Dreamstime.com
