Bulgaria

[BG] CEM Monitoring Report concerning the coverage of London Olympic Games

IRIS 2012-9:1/12

Rayna Nikolova

New Bulgarian University

With reference to the Summer Olympic Games that were held in London in 2012, the Council for Electronic Media (CEM) has carried out a monitoring procedure under the Radio and Television Act (RTA) of 9 television programmes: "Nova TV" "BTV", "BG ON AIR", "TV 7" 'RING BG", "NOVA SPORT", 'TV EVROPA", "KANAL 3”, "BNT 1". The Bulgarian National Television (BNT) had acquired the exclusive rights to broadcast the event.

According to Art. 19b of RTA, a television broadcaster that holds an exclusive right for the transmission of an event of major importance shall be obligated to afford the other television broadcasters access to the news coverage of the said event in accordance with the obligations assumed by the Republic of Bulgaria in accordance with relevant international treaties in effect, in particular under the EU Directive on Audiovisual Media Services (2010/13/EU).

The findings of CEM are that the coverage of the Olympic Games on the television programmes surveyed respected the law. The main goal of the corresponding provisions of the RTA, i.e., that as many people as possible should be informed about events of public interest, was secured, according to the CEM’s report.

In particular, concerning the programme "Nova TV", extracts of the Olympic Games were broadcast during the news section of the morning show "Hello Bulgaria!", during the newscasts at 1 pm, 7 pm and 11.30 pm as well as during the repeat at 3.30 am. The material concerning the Olympic Games was concentrated thoroughly in the sports sections following the respective newscasts. The CEM spotted several options as to how the extracts were used: some with BNT’s logo and an inscription reading "The scene has been broadcast with the assistance of BNT"; others, without BNT’S logo but with the Olympic rings in the upper right corner of the screen and the same inscription.

On the channel "BTV", the Olympic Games were mainly broadcast during the sports sections of news programmes with extracts of races, which did not exceed the admissible maximum duration of 90 seconds. The inscription "With the assistance of BNT" was inserted at the bottom of the screen.