Ministry of Communications and IT issues statement against use of radical measures against private television channels

The Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies of Azerbaijan has issued a statement against the use of radical measures against private television channels. As the head of the ministry, Ali Abbasov recently said at a meeting of the ministry board, that an abrupt suspension of technical assistance to channels does not solve the issue, in spite of their financial obligations.

Conflicts arose between a structure providing technical services and a customer structure. Minister believes it is unacceptable to force TV companies to meet their financial obligations for use of the technical infrastructure by making them go off the air. "The issue should be addressed by other more acceptable procedures and methods of regulation.

It is necessary to pursue a policy of regulation, acceptable for both sides. As for broadcasting tariffs, this issue is already under consideration by the Tariff Council. In general, the issues relating to the regulation procedures must be addressed before analog broadcasting ceases to exist.

This means all the regulatory procedures must be fully ready by 2014," Abbasov said. The minister said suspension of analog broadcasting, and a full transition to the new broadcasting standard are the prospective areas of development and promise new opportunities. This will eliminate the problem of the lack of frequency resources which is relevant today in view of the dynamic development of mobile communication technology.

---