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In its extraordinary meeting on 11 September 2009 the Parliamentary Commission of Culture, Civil Society and Media reviewed and analysed the annual report of the Council for Electronic Media (CEM) for 2008. This is the first time that the CEM delivered an annual report about its activities under Article 39 para 1 of the Radio and Television Act. According to the report, in 2008 the CEM issued 18 licenses for radio activities and registered 17 television programmes distributed by means of cable and satellite and thus promoted the creation of local and regional radio programmes. During 2008 the CEM...

The Bulgarian Commission for the Protection of Competition (CPC) received a request from MTG Broadcasting AB concerning the clearance of the intended acquisition of Diema Vision EAD by MTG. In its considerations on the request the CPC included its decision No. 879 dated 9 October 2008 permitting the acquisition of 100 % of the shares of Nova Television - First Private Channel EAD, 100 % of the shares of Nova Television Plus EOOD and 80 % of the shares of EVA Agency OOD by MTG Broadcasting EAD, Sweden. As part of internal restructuring measures, MTG has transferred its shareholding in Nova Television...

On 4 June 2009 the Bulgarian Constitutional Court decided on a case regarding the constitutionality of some provisions of the Electronic Communications Act (ECA) and the Radio and Television Act. The application to the Constitutional Court was submitted by 51 members of the National Assembly. The application contains arguments for declaring Article 47a, Article 48, paras. 3, 4 and 5 of the ECA (published in the State Gazette, issue 17 of 2009); Paragraphs 5, 5a, 5b, 5c, 5d of the Final and Transitional Provisions of the ECA and Article 116i of the Radio and Television Act (published in the State...

On 19 May 2009 the Law on Public Radio Broadcasting (“LPRB”) was published in the State Gazette (issue No. 37). Despite some severe opposition from the media sector to the adoption of such an important legislative act in a non-transparent manner, the President has not vetoed the LPRB. The LPRB governs State participation in the broadcasting of Bulgarian National Television (“BNT”) and Bulgarian National Radio (“BNR”). The LPRB differentiates between two types of networks for the digital transmission of electronic communication: via radio network for the transmission of the signal and via a backbone...

On 2 April 2009 the Council of Ministers (CoM) adopted the Bill on Public Broadcasting (“Bill”). This happened without holding public discussions or consultations with the stakeholders: namely the Council for Electronic Media, the Communications Regulation Commission, the Bulgarian National Television (BNT) and the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR). The Law on Normative Acts and the Internal Rules of Procedures of the CoM explicitly provide that before adopting an act a consultation process should take place with the relevant interested parties. The Bill was submitted to the National Assembly on 6...