Head of the Electronic Media Agency, Josip Popovac, appeared on N1’s morning programme on Wednesday to talk about the new bill on electronic media.

The existing law has been in force since 2009 and only partial amendments have been made to it in 2013.

“When this law was passed in 2009, it was quite revolutionary because the first audio-visual directive was implemented then. Market development is absolutely pushing us forward and we have to think about new regulations,” he said.

Cable provider duopoly

“There have been more than these two companies (A1 and HT) who offered cable TV, but these two are dominating the field. I don’t know too much about business policies of operators, since HAKOM (Croatian Regulatory Authority for Network Industries) is in charge of that. I expect these processes will become faster with further development of 5G technology,” he said.

Talking about A1 making the decision to stop carrying N1 in five days, as well as HT potentially making the same decision in a few months, Popovac said he sincerely hopes that does not happen.

“I hope these three companies come to a fair agreement. I’m convinced that will happen. I don’t see how it’s in anyone’s interest to stop carrying a popular channel,” he added.
Asked whether the Agency had so far had any complaints to N1’s work, he said that N1 TV is not under the jurisdiction of his Agency.

“N1 is monitored by the Luxembourg regulator. As viewers, we have every right to monitor these channels and notify the regulator in charge. We have not noticed any lapses, I have to admit your broadcaster’s business is regular. Our position is such that we can only notify the regulator from Luxembourg,” he said.

Croatian media market is quite pluralistic, he added.

“We have 34 national TV channels. There’s not much to complain about the Croatian media space, but there is room for improvement. Media outlets have suffered a lot during this pandemic. I think we have to put our efforts into maintaining the industry and improving the value of our work,” he said.

Licence regulation

Popovac talked about the granting of new licences for TV channels.

“The process is detailed in the laws and regulations. I can’t say much here because I’m the head of the collective body. Tenders for new licences have not been opened yet for many reasons, the main being that the media environment is not favourable,” he said.
He added that Croatia is unique in its ban of vertical integration. “There is talk on liberalising those rules. If we decide to go down that path, we definitely have to be very careful in regulating concentration.”

“If the law is to be changed, we need to work out all relations in great detail. I think we can do that if the competition is fair. I’ve given my contribution as a member of the group, the bill is on the second reading and I think… it will be passed soon,” he concluded.