Five months after the termination of terrestrial broadcasting, Yerkir Media TV company is back on the air. It was possible to follow the work of Yerkir Media In the public multiplex on the same slot, i.e., channel 7, starting from midnight on June 30.

Why was Yerkir Media’s broadcasting terminated?

In January 2021, The Television and Radio Commission (TRC) finalized the results of the national tender for licensing the use of slots in the public multiplex. The winners were “Armenia TV” CJSC, “Husaber” CJSC (Yerkir Media TV), “Shant” LLC, “A-TV” LLC, and “Multi Media-Kentron TV” CJSC (Kentron TV).

“Armenian Second TV Channel” LLC (H2), which lost in that competition, appealed to the court. The court satisfied H2’s request and annulled the tender results.

 This time, TRC set the number of slots to four instead of five because H2 demanded to be recognized as the competition winner in another lawsuit. Since the legal process was ongoing, there was a theoretical possibility that the court could satisfy H2, so the TV company asked the court to oblige TRC to keep one slot open. In its turn, the court froze one slot, allowing only a four-slot competition instead of five.

Four of the six television companies participating in the new tender were granted licenses. Yerkir Media and H2 did not receive a broadcasting license.

Consequently, starting January 21 this year, Yerkir Media television company ceased broadcasting. However, the fifth slot, which Yerkir Media could have occupied, was still disputed in court.

What changed in the law?

As a result of tenders and court decisions, a situation was created when there was an empty slot for the right of which there was an ongoing court dispute.

In March 2023, the National Assembly amended the “Law on Audiovisual Media” and made it possible to resolve this situation.
The law defines that if:

a. the broadcaster has a terrestrial broadcasting license
b. the court recognized the results of the license tender invalid,
c. the broadcaster continues to operate the slot until the results of a new competition for that slot are finalized.
This change in the law has a retroactive application and helped Yerkir Media return to the air.

“The legislative regulation made it possible for the empty fifth slot, on which no competition was held, to restore our broadcasting,” says Bagrat Yesayan, director of Yerkir Media.

Parallelly, the Administrative Court removed the ban on conducting a tender to fill the one slot for broadcasting in the public multiplex.

The TRC has announced a new tender. Applications will be accepted from July 3-24. Hasmik Petrosyan, the head of the public relations department of TRC, says that the new competition winner will be announced in the fall.

The Yerkir Media TV company, which is temporarily back on the air, will also participate in the announced competition.

“Yerkir Media will present a new package at the competition with new enhanced technical means and content. We have carried out technical re-equipment, and the process is ongoing,” says Bagrat Yesayan.

Yerkir Media has withdrawn the lawsuit submitted to the Administrative Court, demanding broadcasting rights of its TV programs in the public multiplex.

Marianna Danielyan