Digital TV: opportunities and challenges

Conference "The broadcast media in Azerbaijan: Current Situation and New Perspectives" was held on Tuesday at the Park Inn, under the auspices of OSCE Baku Office and the Institute for Reporters Freedom and Safety.

As  the new features, the conference organizers see the transition from analog broadcasting to digital. On the one hand, it eliminates the problem of frequency allocation, and on the other, creates a new technical features to improve the content of television and radio channels.

The OSCE Representative, Nicholas Detsh, noted that new opportunities create the conditions  for the expansion of pluralism on TV channels, which is very important  due to the presidential election of 2013.

According to the latest data from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), digital coverage in Azerbaijan has  reached 87%.

"The Ministry  is trying to bring to Azerbaijan the most advanced technology and keep pace with the times",  said the representative of the  Public Relations Department of the  Ministry, Gulam Abdullayev. He noted that the transition to digital TV  depends not only  on the Ministry, but also of television, which should make retooling.

According to the Chairman of the Institute of Reporters Freedom and Safety, Emin Husenyov, monopoly over broadcasting production association "Teleradio" threaten the stability of broadcast and indirectly serves as a means of pressure on TV. "We need to privatize this state structure and prevent the other participants in the market" - he said.

Abdullayev countered this by saying that "if there are companies that can provide such services, we will work with them."

In addition to the technical side of the issue, the conference participants highlighted creative and professional legal side of the TV. The famous TV host, professor Gulu Maharramli said that the law and professional ethics require media to ensure objectivity, pluralism, taking into account the public interest. That is  not on TV, because of the control of the authorities and the lack of public censure.

The lawyer of the international organization IREX, Alasgar Mammadli, noted that nowhere in Europe is public broadcasting. The Azerbaijani government is not fulfilling 11 years commitment to the Council of Europe on denationalization  of AzTV. "Moreover, we see a dangerous tendency to form new TV based on this state channel, such as the" Sport "and" Culture ",  he said.

Referring to the experience of Lithuania, named Mammadli called it appropriate to issue to channels permanent licenses to increase their attractiveness as business areas, and to reduce the influence of the state. 

Representatives of the Public Television Tahir Mammadov and Anar Yusifoghlu, which were the only broadcasters from 10 countries of central TV channels, claimed that ITV represents the interests of society. Mammadov acknowledged that ITV avoids politicization and politicized programs. He pointed out that the broadcaster prefers living and social issues as well as educational work, and at the same time, ITV highlights the activities and actions of the opposition.

However, the monitoring conducted by the IRFS, showed that there are problems with pluralism and the public interest on the channel. The monitoring results, presented by  Rashad Aliyev, showed that there is no true pluralism on TV - the opposition is not represented in the content, there is a one-sided propaganda of the positive work of the authorities.

Monitoring covers  six TV companies: ANS AzTV, ATV, PTV, Leader, Space, and the state news agency reported. Some elements of pluralism  are marked  on ANS and ITV.

"It is  obvious that  the  case of  Elshad Abdullayev and Gular Ahmadova, whichcaavused great public resonance,  go unnoticed on TV," he said.—0—