Bulgaria

[BG] Time Limits for Advertising by Public Operators

IRIS 2006-1:1/38

Rayna Nikolova

New Bulgarian University

In December 2005, the Parliament amended the Закон за радиото и телевизията (Radio and Television Act, see IRIS 2002-2: 3) without prior consultation among the professional media community and with the Parliamentary Commission on Civil Society and Media. The new provisions concern the duration of advertisements of the public service broadcasters - the Bulgarian National Television (BNT) and the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR).

According to the new rules the duration of advertisements of the public operators was equalled with the duration of advertisements by commercial broadcasters: “The total duration of advertisements for each individual programme shall not exceed 15 per cent of the programme time for the day and 12 minutes per hour (Article 86 of the Radio and Television Act).

Before the amendments of December 2005 the provision of Article 86 paragraph 1 of the Radio and Television Act read as follows: “The total duration of the advertisements for each individual programme cannot exceed:

- for BNT - 15 minutes per day and night and 4 minutes per hour;

- for BNR - 6 minutes per hour;

- for the remaining public radio and television operators - 6 minutes per hour;

- for the commercial operators - 15 per cent of the programme time for the day and 12 minutes per hour;

- the Bulgarian National Television shall have the right to use up to one third of the total volume of the commercial time for the day and night within 19h and 22h.”

The legislative changes of November 2005 were opposed by the media community and the Council for Electronic Media. Following this opposition, in spring of 2006 the Parliament amended Article 86 paragraph 1 of the Radio and Television Act again and the former text of Article 86 paragraph 1 (the version before the amendments of December 2005) became restored.