The United Group said that the Serbian Regulatory Body for Electronic Media (REM) has broken the law by ordering it to restore the old channel numbering on all its platforms.
A United Group statement said that “the rush to take this illegal decision is shown by the fact that prior to the decision, the REM was under obligation to organize a public debate, get opinions on the constitutionality and legality of this decision and publish it in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”.
“None of those procedures defined by law has been done by the REM which is a clear indication that illegal pressure is being exerted on the United Group,” the statement said.
It added that this is an “ad hoc interest decision by the REM which is why the United Group will hand the complete documentation on the case to the most relevant institutions in the country and abroad in order to protect not only the legal rights of the operator but also the human and civil rights which every person in Serbia has, and that is freedom of choice”.
“By demanding that we change to what it calls a “logical numeration of channels”, the REM is demanding that we place all RTS (Radio TV Serbia) programs on all our platforms as the first channels. This was a reaction to our decision to place N1 on channel No zero on the remote control and NOVA S TV on number one. The channels have been moved by one place on only one platform, D3, because, as we said earlier, we are investing technical efforts to return the channels to the same places,” the statement said.
The United Group asked whether the REM decision, despite United Group’s explanation that everything would be returned to the state it was before, coincides with the start of broadcasting of the NOVA S TV whose programming schedule includes shows removed from the air and from national frequencies such as Impression of the Week (Utisak Nedelje), Mental Exercise (Mentalno Razgibavanje) and An Evening With Ivan Ivanovic (Vece sa Ivanom Ivanovicem).
“We recall that the public broadcaster (RTS) sold the Telekom Serbia distribution rights for RTS channels and that at this moment, thanks to Telekom prices police, we had to remove RTS programs outside the country. On one had we have the RTS demand to be No 1 in the country and on the other we have orders to remove RTS program for viewers outside the country which is completely contradictory,” the statement said.
The statement said that “this pressure on the United Group with illogical and illegal demands is unprecedented in European media regulations” and added that the company will request protection from the competent institutions.
“The coordinated activities by the Telekom Serbia, RTS and REM against a private operator and one of the biggest investors in Serbia, considering that they are coming from a state body and state-owned companies, show that the United Group is under pressure from the state apparatus with the evident intention of bringing it into an unequal position on the Serbian market,” the United Group statement said.
N1 TV is part of the United Group.
