Media Study - Medija centar Beograd

and Information Society. Furthermore, RATEL and RBA should present legislators with a solution to the piracy
issues. RBA should be encouraged to establish detailed criteria for granting broadcasting licenses and establish
objective criteria as to how to evaluate these criteria and how to balance them. This reduces the risk of having
decisions made by the Council perceived as arbitrary by stakeholders in the media sector. The arms length’s
principle for decisions, recommendations and policy preparations should be encouraged by increased capacity for
decisions taken on the administrative level and by sub-committees with independent experts. The recently
established Press Council appears to have full independence in handling complaints and self-regulating the sector
and appears to be an ideal model of self-regulation imposing generally accepted press standards. It should,
however, be kept in mind that even in well established democracies Press Councils have not always fulfilled their
role without involvement from the state. If this appears to be the case in the future, pragmatic solutions may have
to be found.
The transition to digital broadcasting will have clear implications for the media landscape and require firm political
decisions. Compared to many EU Member States Serbia is privileged with a high number of national frequencies for
terrestrial broadcasting. The digital switch will serve as an opportunity to streamline and adjust the number of
broadcasters to match the actual size of the market in Serbia. Those local television stations that do not have the
capacity or desire to engage in regional broadcasting will close. Apart from passing new legislation on
telecommunications, it is necessary to adopt decisions/bylaws on commercial licenses and spectrum addressing the
situation following the digital switch- over, to make decisions concerning the digital dividend including technical
regulation on interference, and to plan the economic model and the activities recommended in the action plan
To ensure the optimal Digital Dividend for Serbia RBA is recommended to establish an expert committee with 7-10
representatives from the media, cable, public administration, culture and industry sectors to prepare a coherent
strategy and action plans for the Digital Dividend for Serbia over the next 10 years.
License fees can support broadcasting in several institutional formats that all fall within EU standards and practices.
It is the national public service broadcaster as RTS, it is regional public service broadcasters as proposed in this
study, it is public service programmes produced by private, commercial broadcasters, and it is minority
programmes or film production for broadcasting. Instead of a variety of decentralized funding mechanisms that
each of them must be equipped with protection against undue interference into editorial content the license fees
should be collected nationally through a body with public authority. On top of the anticipated license fees for RTS
as stipulated by law, 8 % should be provided for the system of regional public service broadcasters, 2 % for the
regional system to deliver specialized programmes from the regional public service broadcasters to RTS, 5 % for
grants supporting production and broadcasting of public service programmes on private, commercial broadcasters,
2 % for support to civil sector radio and television, and 2 % as support to a fund for production of quality minority
programmes. Eventually all license fees could be collected by public authorities and allocated into an independent
media fund or similar construction.
Municipal ownership, direct financing and appointment of management of the local media should be brought to an
end and all state interventions and public media support, except license fees should be minimized. Private news
agencies should reshape portfolio of their services to deliver information and research in those areas, where a
“heavy” national institution is not suitable. TANJUG should undergo transformation into a public institution,
supported by the state on basis of a contract, focusing according to its re-definition and transformation on strictly
defined public services, i.e. services which are not to be delivered by independent private companies (e.g.
systematic national archive, regional correspondence with less marketing attraction, research engines,
publications, etc.). If acting in the area of market products competing with private press agencies, the public
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