Bosnia-Herzegovina

[BA] FIFA World Cup and Cable Distributors

IRIS 2006-7:1/11

Dusan Babic

Media Analyst, Sarajevo

The broadcasting sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina is very complex and financially poor, and besides it is oversaturated. None of the broadcasters cover the entire country’s territory or population. Spillover of programming from the neighbouring countries is also present together with brodcasting piracy. This aspect has been additionally complicated by the still unregulated position of cable distributors in the country. However, the Communications Regulatory Agency (CRA), which is responsible for both broadcasting and telecommunications is trying to regulate this sector.

Seemingly the first visible move relates to the FIFA 2006 World Cup in Germany. Namely, BHT1, as an umbrella like public broadcaster, it was awarded an exclusive right to broadcast the World Football Cup. In order to prevent unauthorized broadcasting, the CRA issued an order informing cable operators that they should strictly respect the license for cable distribution of RTV programmes. In this particular case, it is the FIFA 2006 World Cup broadcast via the BHT1 only. None of the nationwide broadcasters, either public or commercial from the neighboring countries, i.e., Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro with programming relating to the World Football Cup should be accessible via cable operators in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Public Broadcasting System in Bosnia and Herzegovina, consisting of BHT1 and two entity broadcasters - Federal RTV and RTRS -, is a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the largest association of national broadcasters in the world, which is also responsible for programming in sport events, according to its mission aiming to ensure plurality of information.