Search results : 90

While revising the budget for the year 2003, the recently elected Cabinet of Ministers questioned the necessity to finance the production of Latvian films from the national budget. As background information it noted that the majority of already-financed films has not been seen by the audience of Latvia and only a few films received financial support from the national budget in 2002. The National Film Centre (the government body overseeing the film sector and acting under the Ministry of Culture) explained that its overall strategy has firstly been to create platforms to help producers to attract...

As the new Director General of public Latvian television introduced some changes to the organisational structure and programme taking effect in 2003, the discussion on the financing of the public service broadcasting raises again. The Latvian public television operates two channels which have been renamed (LTV 1 and LTV7) and whichafter the reform - shall integrally supplement each other by defining their programmes more clearly. LTV1 shall be the national channel, while LTV7 shall be dedicated to sports and minorities. Bearing in mind the large Russian-speaking minority in Latvia, a regular slot...

While the competition for the new Director General of the public television channel in Latvia is still going on (see IRIS 2002-4: 8), the discussion on the role of the public service media heightens. A group of private media seized the chance by writing a letter addressed to the President, the Prime Minister, the National Radio and Television Council, political parties and various mass media, stating that according to the existing legislation a public service media organisation may sell advertising time well below the market price. As the authors of the letter pointed out, the public Radio and...

Public service broadcasting was the subject of heated debates in Latvia in mid-February this year when the National Broadcasting Council (NBC) dismissed the Director General of Latvia Television. The NBC is an independent administrative authority established in September 1995 in accordance with the Radio and Television Law. Its responsibilities comprise the regulation of public service broadcasters and commercial broadcasters, the administration of the state's capital share in public radio and television, as well as the approval of the public broadcasters' statutes, and the appointment of their...

On 11 November 1999 Latvia amended its Radio and Television Law. That Law was originally adopted in 1995 along the lines of the European Convention on Transfrontier Television. Following the amendments to the Convention, the text of the act needed to be amended as well. The change to the Latvian Law was also important in view of the country's intention to enter the European Union and to harmonize its legislation with that of the European Union. Some new definitions were added such as the definitions of "teleshopping" and "sponsorship" (Article 2). According to the text of the act, "teleshopping"...