On February 21, founder of ‘A1+’ TV Company \u2018Meltex\u2019 LLC will apply to the administrative court to require invalidation of the decision reached on December 16, 2010 by the National Television and Radio Commission (NTRC), according to which ‘A1+’ was deprived of the opportunity to return TV air for the 13th time.<\/p>\n
“We will ask the court to recognize the violated right of \u2018Meltex\u2019 LLC and to rescind NTRC’s Decision 96-A that was reached by the interference of the commission members under biased and non-objective conditions,” says \u2018Meltex\u2019 LLC lawyer Tigran Ter-Yesayan.<\/p>\n
According to NTRC’s Decision 96-A, during the competition of digital TV broadcasting the broadcasting license was given to \u2018Armnews\u2019 CJSC, which was the only competitor of \u2018Meltex\u2019 LLC applied for the same channel.<\/p>\n
Tender of ‘A1+’ has been assessed by only 2 points, because 7 of the 8 members of the Commission have simply graded zero points.<\/p>\n
After the publication of the results, during a press conference, the NTRC President Grigor Amalyan has announced that ‘Meltex’ LLC package was assessed low, \u201cbecause there were false documents found there.\u201d It referred to the certificate on the investment of 280,000 Euros, where the Commission had revealed a discrepancy.<\/p>\n
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On February 21, founder of ‘A1+’ TV Company \u2018Meltex\u2019 LLC will apply to the administrative court to require invalidation of the decision reached on December 16, 2010 by the National Television and Radio Commission (NTRC), according to which ‘A1+’ was deprived of the opportunity to return TV air for the 13th time.<\/p>\n
“We will ask the court to recognize the violated right of \u2018Meltex\u2019 LLC and to rescind NTRC’s Decision 96-A that was reached by the interference of the commission members under biased and non-objective conditions,” says \u2018Meltex\u2019 LLC lawyer Tigran Ter-Yesayan.<\/p>\n
According to NTRC’s Decision 96-A, during the competition of digital TV broadcasting the broadcasting license was given to \u2018Armnews\u2019 CJSC, which was the only competitor of \u2018Meltex\u2019 LLC applied for the same channel.<\/p>\n
Tender of ‘A1+’ has been assessed by only 2 points, because 7 of the 8 members of the Commission have simply graded zero points.<\/p>\n
After the publication of the results, during a press conference, the NTRC President Grigor Amalyan has announced that ‘Meltex’ LLC package was assessed low, \u201cbecause there were false documents found there.\u201d It referred to the certificate on the investment of 280,000 Euros, where the Commission had revealed a discrepancy.<\/p>\n
The \u2018Meltex\u2019 lawyer is convinced that NTRC has shown bias and aimed at discrediting the reputation of \u2018A1+\u2019 in the competition.<\/p>\n
As evidence the \u2018Meltex\u2019 LLC representatives are presenting documents from the competition package submitted by the rival \u2018Armnews\u2019 CJSC. The \u2018Meltex\u2019 representatives say discrepancies and fraud have been found in the package, which, according to them, \u201cthe NTRC has not noticed or ignored.\u201d<\/p>\n
Particularly, there is a document in the package of \u2018Armnews\u2019 CJSC submitted to the NTRC certifying readiness of \u2018Ameria\u2019 Bank to allot 500 million drams\u2019 loan (about $1,380,000). However, according to the document, the recipient of the loan is \u2018Armnews\u2019 CJSC and not \u2018Armnews\u2019 LLC. Meanwhile, there is no \u2018Armnews\u2019 LLC functioning in the Republic of Armenia.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is, no certificate of 500 million drams (about $1,380,000), in essence, has been submitted by \u2018Armnews\u2019. If submitted, then it does not belong to the company,\u201d says Tigran Ter-Yesayan.<\/p>\n
\u2018Meltex\u2019 LLC lawyer Tigran Ter-Yesayan claims that if the NTRC has considered it to be a misprint, as clarified by the head of the Commission Grigor Amalyan to the \u2018Aravot\u2019 daily, then he should have applied the same approach in the case of assessing \u2018A1+\u2019.<\/p>\n
Moreover, it is the only document on the financial investment presented by \u2018Armnews\u2019, which the NTRC has noted as one of the main grounds to recognize the company as the winner. Whereas a total of 1,100,000 Euro financial investment was referred to in the 6 documents submitted by \u2018Meltex\u2019 LLC.<\/p>\n
Another example brought by the lawyer of \u2018A1+\u2019 reports that the biography of an air specialist with a name Grigor Khachatryan, presented within the competition package of \u2018Armnews\u2019, indicates that he has been working for the TV company since 2001. However, the company was founded in 2002.<\/p>\n
\u2018Armnews\u2019 had mentioned to have 72 employees.<\/p>\n
“If in the case of \u2018A1+\u2019 the NTRC notices that there is some discrepancy of signature or seal, in this case, too, it should have suspicion and check whether the information on 72 employees was true or not. The Commission has noticed and done nothing, or not read,” says lawyer Tigran Ter-Yesayan.<\/p>\n
According to Article 32 of the RA Law \u2018On The Basis of Administration And Administrative Proceedings\u2019, if there are formal errors in the application, which can be corrected, the administrative authority specifies them to the applicant by giving him an opportunity to correct those errors.<\/p>\n
However, the NTRC has not called and required any clarification from \u2018Meltex\u2019 LLC during the competition, stating, in fact, that there are false documents in the package.<\/p>\n
President of \u2018Meltex\u2019 LLC Mesrop Movsisyan accused NTRC in idleness.<\/p>\n
“Mr. Amalyan will stand before the court with the whole staff of its commission and will answer for his slipshod work,” says Mesrop Movsisyan.<\/p>\n
Movsisyan says also that the names of the staff submitted by ‘Armnews’ are mostly repeated in the package submitted by ‘Armenia’ TV, which is a violation of the law.<\/p>\n
The NTRC has assessed the tenders according to 6 criteria, these referring mostly to the staff, financial and technical data submitted by the companies.<\/p>\n
According to the submitted tenders, the ‘Armnews’ programs of own production occupy 82 percent of total transmissions. ‘A1+’ has promised to provide 80 percent of own production programs. In case of ‘Armnews’, programs of domestic production are 87 percent, in case of ‘A1+’ \u2013 100%. ‘A1+’ exceeded also in financial investments, even if to take into account that 2 out of the 6 financial certificates were false, as claimed by the Commission.<\/p>\n
With regard to technical means, the lawyer of ‘A1+’ claims that ‘Armnews’ uses absolutely the property of \u2018Armenia\u2019 TV. It is apparent even on air that the news broadcasts of both channels are almost completely repeated.<\/p>\n
\u2018Meltex\u2019 LLC has applied to the court with already two lawsuits claiming to get information from the NTRC. In case of the first suit an agreement has been reached with the NTRC, and the Commission has provided ‘A1+’ with the package of the rival ‘Armnews’ CJSC. And the second suit claiming to properly and completely answer the written questions of \u2018A1+\u2019 is still under examination.<\/p>\n
With the third suit the company intends to reveal what happened between October 28 and December 16, during 37 working days, when the NTRC has studied and evaluated the packages submitted by 20 TV companies which have participated in the licensing competition announced for18 channels.<\/p>\n
Lawyer Tigran Ter-Yesayan noted that each of the packages has consisted of about 200 pages, and he was not sure that the 8 members of the Commission could have carefully studied, analysed and correctly assessed those packages during 37 working days.<\/p>\n