Bosnia’s state telecommunications company ‘BH Telecom’ refused to answer N1's question regarding the funds it allocates on a monthly/annual basis for the broadcasting of TV Pink, Arena and similar foreign media.

In an official letter, BH Telecom rejected N1's request to provide information on the amounts of money allocated for the broadcasting of signals by TV Pink, Arena, KCN1, M1, Fox and others. N1 requested the data in accordance with the Law on Freedom of Access to Information. BH Telecom, as a public company, refused access to the requested information, referring to the “confidentiality” of the third party – the mentioned TV companies allegedly stated that they did not allow the disclosure of the requested information.

Unlike BH Telecom, United Media, as the owner of N1, Sport Klub and other TV channels, did not hide its offer, which was reduced by 50 percent compared to the previous package, but even that was not enough for BH Telecom. They requested free broadcasting of N1 by referring to news channels such as Al Jazeera and TRT, while forgetting to mention in the press release that these are state projects of Qatar and Turkey, while N1 TV is a commercial channel, like those to which, according to media reports, BH Telecom pays € 120,000 and more every month.

Hundreds of thousands of viewers in BiH, who watched N1 television in recent years on the Moja TV platform of the BH Telecom company, are no longer able to do so as of September 1, because the management of this public telecommunications company, led by the cadre of the ruling Democratic Action Party (SDA), did not change its decision to turn off the signal of N1 as a regional media outlet. The N1 signal on BH Telecom was turned off before the start of the election campaign, which caused strong reactions from the domestic public and the international community, and many BH Telecom subscribers cancelled their services following to the cancellation of N1 on ‘Moja TV’ IPTV platform.

BH Telecom’s General Manager Sedin Kahriman is also the president of the Sarajevo SDA Cantonal Board. Leading intellectuals and public officials called the cancellation of N1 on BH Telecom’s platform – political, not a business decision, censorship and an introduction to media darkness.