Media Study - Medija centar Beograd

2.6.3 ECONOMIC BACKGROUND
2.6.3.1 PIRACY
150-200 radio and TV stations are said to be pirating in Serbia with an unclear market share. Their activities cause
substantial loss and damages to the media market:
Unauthorized re-broadcasting of content implies loss of revenue to copyright holders;
Distribution of advertisements damages the market for TV and radio advertisements;
Transmission interferes with other licensed broadcasters who the consumers paid license fees to watch.
In August 2008, the Republican Telecommunication Agency and the Republican Broadcasting Agency called on
radio station owners who had not been granted a broadcast license to cease activities by 1 September 2008 after
the completion of public tenders pursuant to Article 119 of the Broadcasting Law. Based upon this public call,
RATEL undertook an intensive detection of radio stations operating without the l license in order to take
appropriate measures against these stations. By the end of 2008, over 150 broadcasting stations working without
the license were identified through controls and detection of illegal broadcasting. Based upon the obtained results
and pursuant to legal provisions regulating telecommunications and general administrative procedures, decrees
were adopted prohibiting, without delay and indefinitely the operation of radio stations, due to unlawful usage of
radio frequencies. Also, RATEL informed the Broadcasting Agency in order to coordinate measures against the
owners of the stations operating without the license. According to data from the metropolitan area of Belgrade
over 60% of stations without the license ceased operation by 1 September 2008 or immediately after. However, a
number of radio station owners kept working without the license in the hope of additional tenders for regional and
local areas.
2.6.3.2 COPYRIGHT – COLLECTING SOCIETIES
Users appear reluctant to pay copyright royalties. The interviews conducted imply that this seems partially due to a
non-transparent royalty structure. Another reason is lack of information about why copyrights should be paid and
honored.
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