Epress.am News from Armenia
Alexan Harutyunyan, head of the Council of Armenian Public TV and Radio (that operates H1), has instructed the appropriate departments to investigate whether claims by Asparez Journalists’ Club of violations by H1 are indeed true.
“Let me say that on Public TV from 9 pm on Dec. 31 till 2 am, there were only four blocks of commercials, 3–4 minutes in length. We had decided to run very few ads during our broadcasts, so that the people could relax at least during the New Year celebrations,” he said, adding that if Asparez’ claims are indeed true, then necessary action will be taken.
“I have instructed our experts to find out how is it possible that such violations occurred; they [are responsible for] monitoring. But in any case, if you noticed, even in these studies, Public Television is in relatively good condition,” he continued.
Recall that Asparez Journalists’ Club issued letters on Jan. 10 and 14 to Armenia’s National Commission on Television and Radio (NCTR) President Grigor Amalyan, highlighting the results of its Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 monitoring of Armenian Public TV (H1), in which it found the station violated the RA Law on TV and Radio, which stipulates that advertisements must not exceed 7% of overall programming.