Bratislava, Budapest, and Prague, 12 and 13 February 2009 – Three years after the release of monitoring reports on the situation of television in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, new update reports are released on 12 and 13 February at events in Bratislava and Prague. The Czech update report highlights that, despite the launch of some digital services, Czech broadcasting still suffers under the heavy hand of political influence.
In 2008, ten years after the Czech Republic adopted its first decree on digitisation of electronic media, the first private digital channels began operations. This welcome breakthrough has not, however, yet had much impact on the market or the total programme offer to the public.
The Czech television industry still lacks healthy competition. Four nationwide terrestrial channels – the commercial TV Nova and Prima TV, and the two public service channels of Czech Television (ČT, Česká televize) – still command almost the entire audience. The advertising industry continues to crave more competition that should, eventually, be created by the new digital channels.
There have been no changes in legislation that would allow for more public participation in the oversight of broadcasting through bodies such as the national broadcast regulator, the Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting (RRTV, Rada pro rozhlasové a televizní vysílání).
Although Czech Television is still too close to Parliament – and will remain so for as long as Parliament controls the ČT Council – there is no clear evidence of significant manipulation. Indeed, the public service broadcaster has made progress in fulfilling its public service mission. News, current affairs, documentary and drama output dominate its schedules.
The RRTV also suffers from lack of political independence; its membership continues to reflect the distribution of power in Parliament. As with ČT, however, this structural problem has not prevented progress from being made. In particular, it is positive that the regulator awarded a digital licence to a network of regional TV stations, which pledges to focus its programming solely on regional issues.
The new report calls on the Government and Parliament to increase the independence of the public service broadcaster and the regulator. For ČT to flourish, the TV and radio licence fee must rise regularly and in line with inflation or the retail price index. The RRTV needs greater sanctioning power and effectiveness if it is to be fit for purpose in the digital world, able to monitor the rapid changes in the broadcasting market. (It should, for example, be entitled to adopt bylaws for the sector.)
The Government and Parliament should also ensure that the country’s liberal licensing regime does not endanger broadcasting diversity and standards.
Note to Editors
This report is part of the monitoring series, “Television across Europe: Follow-up Reports 2008”. The series updates the analysis in nine of the twenty countries that were covered in the 2005 series of reports, “Television across Europe: regulation, policy and independence”: Albania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Italy, Lithuania, Macedonia, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
Both series of reports were produced by the EU Monitoring and Advocacy Program (EUMAP) of the Open Society Institute and the Network Media Program (NMP) of the Open Society Foundation, in cooperation with local experts and civil society organisations. The full text of all the reports, as well as a European overview, is available in English and in translation at
http://www.mediapolicy.org. Reports on Slovakia and on the Czech Republic together with press releases and additional information are also available there.
The Czech 2008 report, as well as the 2005 report, were drafted by Eva Rybkova. Eva is a media expert and also deals extensively with assistance policies to new democracies. She currently works as an advocacy and events manager for PASOS - the network of independent think-tanks in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
The report is available online at
www.mediapolicy.org.
For further information contact Eva Rybkova at
eva.rybkova@pasos.org or phone +420 2223 14833, or Miriam Anati at
manati@osieurope.org
