The National Council of Ukraine on Television and Radio Broadcasting told us how the Law of Ukraine “On Media” is being implemented in Lviv region.
On March 31 last year, the Law of Ukraine “On Media” came into force. It expanded the powers of the National Council of Ukraine on Television and Radio Broadcasting.
Taras Shorobura, a representative of the National Council of Ukraine on Television and Radio Broadcasting in Lviv Oblast, spoke about the implementation of the Law in Lviv Oblast today, March 27, at a briefing at the official media center at the Lviv Regional State Administration.
“While under the Law on Television and Radio Broadcasting, the regulator’s powers extended only to linear media that carry out various types of broadcasting (with and without the use of frequency resources), as well as to software service providers, since March 31, 2023, in accordance with the Law of Ukraine On Media, the regulatory activities of the National Council extend to print media, online media and digital platforms,” the speaker noted.
Thus, the National Council will now carry out not only licensing but also media registration. According to the Law of Ukraine “On Media,” only those entities that use the country’s frequency resource remain licensees. All others become registrants. The registration process began in 2023 and is ongoing.
Taras Shorobura emphasized the need to register print media.
Thus, according to the Law of Ukraine “On Media,” registration of print media during martial law and for a certain period after its lifting is mandatory.
Print media that currently operate on the basis of a Certificate of Registration of Print Media can register free of charge until March 31, 2024. After March 31, 2024, these certificates will expire.
In the future, registration fees will be charged in the amount of the subsistence minimum for able-bodied persons. Today, this amount is UAH 3,028.
“On March 31, 2024, the transitional period allocated for the registration of certain media entities will also expire! In particular, this also applies to those media outlets that were licensees of the National Council in accordance with the requirements of the Law “On Television and Radio Broadcasting”, said Taras Shorobura.
Namely:
– audiovisual media that do not use the radio frequency spectrum (television broadcasting in cable networks and radio broadcasting in the wired network)
– providers of audiovisual services (according to the previous law – providers of program services).
Registration is subject to the requirements of Article 63 of the Law of Ukraine “On Media”.
The representative of the National Council in Lviv region provides explanations on the registration procedure to all applicants by phone: +380990004206.
The explanations are also posted on the official Facebook page of the National Council representative at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61554175976988 and on the official website of the National Council.
As of now, 42 print media entities in Lviv region have registered 162 print media outlets. Also, 13 online media entities have registered.
As for print media, these are mainly scientific publications of higher education institutions and research institutes in the region. For example, the following became registrants of the National Council: Lviv Polytechnic National University, Hetman Petro Sahaidachnyi National Army Academy, and Lviv State University of Life Safety. The socio-political publications include the newspapers Vysokyi Zamok, Express, and others. The newspaper “Ratusha”, “For Free Ukraine Plus”, as well as a significant number of regional publications have applied for registration.
In total, more than 120 media entities are registered in the media space of Lviv region.
Another novelty of the Law of Ukraine “On Media” is the requirement to reorganize the audiovisual media (i.e., those that broadcast television or radio) of communal ownership into public media.
In accordance with the provisions of the Media Law, local governments must, within six months from the date of entry into force of the Media Law, make a decision to reorganize municipal television and radio organizations into local public audiovisual media.
If martial law is in effect in Ukraine or in the broadcasting territory of the respective public audiovisual media on the day this Law comes into force, the period specified in the Law expires six months after the date of termination or cancellation of martial law.
“In Lviv region, there are 15 municipally owned broadcasters, 13 of which broadcast using the radio frequency spectrum, and 1 media outlet broadcasts over the air and wire (Drohobych Regional Radio Broadcasting “Frankova Zemlya”). The founders of such media are city and district councils,” said Taras Shorobura.
In order to implement this novelty of the Law, the National Council has developed and approved a number of documents, namely
a model charter of an entity in the field of local public audiovisual media;
a model employment contract with the head of an entity in the field of local public audiovisual media;
the procedure for holding conferences of public associations and electing members of the supervisory board of an enterprise that is an entity in the field of local public audiovisual media.
The reorganization of municipal television and radio organizations in Lviv region into local public audiovisual media will take place after the relevant decisions are made by local governments.
As of March 1, 2024, no such decisions have been made.
“Despite Russia’s military aggression, local media continue to develop, increase the coverage of the region with a television and radio signal, master new forms of work, are active in social networks, and invest financial resources in creating their own media product and technical base.
The National Council did not record any gross violations of the law in the activities of the registered media in Lviv region this year.
In 2024, the media of Lviv region will have to overcome challenges related to the lack of qualified personnel, an increase in tariffs for signal distribution and an increase in tariffs for subscriptions to printed publications,” said Taras Shorobura.
We would like to add that in accordance with the requirements of the Law of Ukraine “On Media”, the National Council approved the Strategy for 2024-2026.
According to the approved Strategy, in 2024, the priority tasks of the National Council are as follows:
Overseeing compliance by media entities with legal norms, in particular regarding the state’s information security.
Official monitoring of the programs of linear regional and local audiovisual media (TV broadcasters) for compliance with the requirements of the Law of Ukraine “On Media” regarding the share of programs in the state language.
Official monitoring of the programs of linear regional and local audio media (radio broadcasters) for compliance with the requirements of the Law of Ukraine “On Media” regarding the volume of songs in Ukrainian and the share of programs in the state language.
Official monitoring of audiovisual service providers for compliance with the terms of distribution of foreign linear media (TV channels).
Official monitoring of regional and local TV broadcasters for compliance with gender balance.
Conducting explanatory work among entities in the field of print media on registration by the National Council in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On Media”.
Conducting explanatory work among municipally owned broadcasters on reorganization into local public audiovisual media, as well as promoting the development of such public audiovisual media.