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Croatia

[HR] NOVA TV Obtains First National Commercial Television Concession

IRIS 1999-9:1/30

Kresimir Macan

HRT, Croatian Radiotelevision, Zagreb

NOVA TV, a privately owned company from Zagreb, obtained the first national commercial television concession granted by the Vije ´ce za telekomunikacije (Telecommunication Council) on 12 July 1999, as it was the only applicant for the concession announced by the end of 1998. NOVA TV has yet to sign a contract for the concession by 30 October 1999. The concession applies to the fourth national network (that is, the use of the fourth frequency range) that is still to be constructed and for the time being has no equipment installed. This fact might be a reason why there were no other applicants, although several potential competitors had shown an interest in the concession documentation. It seems that other potential applicants gave up competing for the concession after the press and experts had evaluated the undertaking as uneconomical under the given conditions, but there is no independent confirmation of this information. Afterwards leaders of NOVA TV publicly expressed their wish to use the third national network (i.e., the third terrestrial frequency range) used by Hrvatska radiotelevizija (the Croatian RadiotelevisionHRT ) instead of the planned fourth network, although the third network was not the subject of the concession. According to the existing Law on Croatian Radiotelevision, HRT is obliged to transmit three national level TV and radio programs.