Albania

[AL] Broadcasting License of Shijak TV Withdrawn

IRIS 2005-2:1/6

Hamdi Jupe

Albanian Media Monitoring Center

On 23 December 2004 the Keshilli Kombetar i Radioteleviziove (National Council of Radio and Television, NCRT), the highest regulatory authority for private radio and TV stations, decided to withdraw the broadcasting license of the private TV station Shijak TV. Shijak TV is the first private TV station in Albania. It is owned by the Company Media + and it started broadcasting on 20 December 1995. It was also the first Albanian private TV station that could be received in Europe on satellite since July 2003. The Press Release of the NCRT stated that the license was withdrawn due to repeated broadcasting of different pirate TV programs taken from foreign TV stations, as well as for the non-payment of the fee for the broadcasting license during 2003. Shijak TV, though it had been the subject of penalties, continued transmitting pirate programs. The President of Shijak TV declared that the station will take court action against the decision of the Albanian NCRT. The decisions taken by the Albanian NCRT can be appealed in court. The Albanian Forum for Free Media, a local association for the protection of the rights of journalists, publicly declared that it considered the decision of the Albanian NCRT a "tendentious decision", taken just before the parliamentary elections in Albania.