The Communications Commission is calling on broadcasters to refrain from airing programmes that abuse a person’s dignity and their fundamental rights, or contain obscenity. Qualitative media monitoring carried out by the Commission for the pre-election period of the 2020 Georgian parliamentary elections, covering the activities of 6 national broadcasters between 1 September and 31 October 2020, found that within the pluralistic and diverse pre-election media environment, some sections of...

Media monitoring carried out by the Communications Commission during the pre-election period found that 7 broadcasters violated the Law of Georgia on Broadcasting by not holding pre-election debates on air. Broadcasters have a duty to offer viewers debates between electoral subjects in order to enable them to make informed choices. The following broadcasters violated Article 55.1 of the Law on Broadcasting: Teleimedi, Studio Maestro, PosTV, Television and Radio Company ATV-12, Tanamgzavri TV,...

The Communications Commission has upheld complaints made by member of the public and issued the broadcasting company Rustavi 2 and GDS TV with fines of GEL 2500 each for violating the Law of Georgia on Broadcasting. The case concerns the broadcasting of motion pictures and television shows that are unsuitable for minors. Specifically, the broadcasters were found to have breached the regulations regarding the scheduling and labelling of programmes that are unsuitable for minors. Such offences...

The Communications Commission has issued Mtavari Arkhi with a fine of GEL 58,061.76 for repeat violation of the legislative requirements regarding the placement of pre-election/political advertising. In accordance with the Georgian legislation, pre-election adverts can be aired by the broadcasters from the next Monday of the scheduling day of the second round of voting. Therefore, Mtavari Arkhi only had the right to broadcast political adverts from Monday, 16 November. It is important to note...

The Communications Commission has published ComCom Digest for the month of November, which provides an overview of the activities and important decisions taken by the Commission over the past month. What violations were identified during the pre-election media monitoring process, which broadcasters were issued with a protocol for violating the legislation, and what were the television advertising figures and trends in the third quarter? Detailed information on these and other issues...

What are the existing challenges on the Georgian telecommunications market, what opportunities are afforded to virtual operators by the decision regarding the mandatory access of MVNOs, what are ComCom’s plans regarding the implementation of 5G technology in Georgia, and what challenges are associated with Georgia’s top-level DNS zones? These are some of the issues addressed by representatives of the Communications Commission at the Georgian Internet Governance Forum...

“When the telecommunications market is fully saturated, investments have already been made and competition is no longer growing, regulators must make the acceptance of MVNOs mandatory,” principal analyst and competition expert at Cullen International, Veronica Bocarova, told the forum of Georgian Network Operators Group (GeoNOG 2020). The Cullen International expert does not believe that MVNOs can present any form of threat in Georgia. According to her, international practices...

The application period for the media literacy contest “Truth or Fiction?” has been extended by two weeks. Baccalaureate students now have until 26 November to submit their entries. The Communications Commission took the decision to extend the application period due to the high level of interest and demand. The contest, which aims to develop critical thinking, analysis and fact-checking skills among young people, was announced on 12 October. All baccalaureate students can take part...

Television advertising revenues increased by 24% year-on-year during the third quarter, totaling GEL 15.9 million, which includes advertising, sponsorship, product placement, notices and teleshopping. Notably, direct advertising accounted for 87% of all advertising revenues, while sponsorship and product placement accounted for 6% each.  The largest revenue figures in Q3 were posted by Imedi TV (GEL 6.1 million, which represents a 20% increase year-on-year). Rustavi 2 posted revenues...

The Communications Commission publishes the first qualitative and quantitative interim report on the media monitoring of the pre-election period of Georgia’s parliamentary election. The report covers the period from September 1 to September 30. The qualitative media monitoring was conducted on 6 national broadcasters, including First Channel of the Public Broadcaster, Adjara Public Broadcaster, Rustavi 2, Imedi TV, Pirveli TV and Mtavari TV. The monitoring covered the primetime...