Claims of the N4 Channel against Some Sanctions Imposed by the BC in 2022 Are Rejected by the Court

The magistrates of Chisinau Court, Rîșcani Headquarters, recently rejected the complaints filed by the N4 channel against the decision of the Broadcasting Council (BC) according to which the channel requested to cancel some sanctions such as a public warning regarding the lack of local products and the lack of translation or movie subtitles in Romanian as ungrounded. The complaints refer to a decision dated March 2022, when the authority sanctioned 12 TV channels with a total amount of 198000 lei (approximately 10000 Euros).

The decision to sanction the 12 TV channels was made during the BC meeting held on March 2 last year, in the context of a series of petitions (30 in total) from the Patronal Association of Radio Broadcasters of Moldova and the suggestion on conducting an ex officio monitoring of all the TV channels which had breached that provision in 2021. The authority randomly selected two monitoring terms (January 17-23 and January 24-30, 2022) and detected a series of breaches caused by the lack of local products, programs in Romanian, and translations or subtitles to the movies. The fines reached an amount of almost 200000 lei. The N4 channel had two public warnings, but the judges rejected the channel’s application. The decisions can be appealed against at Chisinau Court of Appeal.

At the same time, according to the BC, the other providers from the list of the 12 channels concerned also contested the Council’s decision in court. No decision has been taken yet.

In 2022, the Broadcasting Council applied 120 sanctions for the lack of local programs and programs in Romanian on the radio stations and TV channels or for broadcasting them in other hours than prime time. The fines amounted to almost one million lei.