Romania’s Antena TV Group has asked a court to annul an administrative act issued by the Competition Council recommending amendments to the principle of must carry.
According to Media Expres, the Council earlier this year recommended that must-carry should be applied irrespective of the technology used to distribute services, not as it is currently just to cable operators.
At present, Antena Group has five national channels – Antena 1, Antena 3, Antena Stars, Euforia Lifestyle TV and GSP – that have must-carry status.
However, the Council believes that such a status should only be granted to global broadcasters whose content is in the public interest (effectively public channels, along with TV stations whose retransmission is mandatory due to international agreements signed by Romania).
In the case of private broadcasters, must-carry should only be given to services where it is deemed strictly necessary to achieve the objective of general interest and where they have the appropriate audience share.
