Epress.am News from Armenia
Shutting down ALM TV is injustice, said People’s Party of Armenia leader and ALM Holding LLC President Tigran Karapetyan, speaking to journalists in Yerevan today and repeating what he said at a Jan. 7 rally and on his televised broadcasts.
Karapetyan said he’s not preparing to take anyone to court, since he doesn’t consider this an effective option. According to him, 10 days after submitting his application for a broadcast license it was already clear to him that ALM would be “shut down.”
Recall that on Dec. 16, 2010, Armenia’s National Commission on Television and Radio named the 7 winners of the broadcast licensing competitions for regional TV companies, which were held in Armenia for the first time and were stipulated by the digital switchover from analogue broadcasting, according to the Yerevan Press Club. Only two of the seven competitions had 2 applicants each (the other 5 competitions had only single applicants who won by default). Yerevan Media Holding LLC beat ALM Holding LLC in the Aragatsotn region competition.
Karapetyan said he has nothing bad to say about his competitor Yerevan TV; however, he wasn’t pleased with Yerevan TV Director Vardges Avetisyan’s statement, according to Karapetyan, “We have not won; Karapetich [referring to Karapetyan] has been dealt a loss.”
On the matter of ALM’s staff, Karapetyan said that 84 families will be left out in the cold — he will retain only 10 individuals to work for his website, monthly publication and Duplex press club. Recall that Karapetyan, upon hearing the results of the competition, had said earlier he would not layoff any staff.
Jan. 20 will be ALM’s last day of broadcast. Karapetyan has promised not to broadcast anything exceptional on that day; rather, he will bid his viewers farewell and simply screen their rally on the previous day.