Albania: Digital Broadcasting Law sparks controversy

Albania: Digital Broadcasting Law sparks controversy

The law was passed by a vote of 71-to-1 after furious opposition deputies left the session in protest against government's refusal to include EU experts' recommendations in the new law.

At the centre of the 10-hour debate was the fate of the broadcasting firm Digitalb, owned by the Top Media company, which has been strongly critical of the government and the Prime Minister in the past.

Berisha has accused the company of involvement in murky business deals. He said Digitalb had maintained an illegal monopoly on the market and had been involved in the 2005 gangland-style killing of one of its former owners.

"There hasn't been a law on digital broadcasting for three years, because contraband money … has been used to humiliate the parliament," Berisha said. 

Though Digitalb and another now bankrupt operator Sat +, have transmitted digitally since 2002, Albania has lacked a law on digital broadcasting, leaving regulatory agencies with no power to regulate transmission frequencies of digital operators.  

If the law is not vetoed by the president of the republic, Digitalb will lose three of the four frequences it is currently using. That would mean from the 40 channels that is currently broadcasting, it would go down to 10.  

But Socialist MP Valentina Leskaj, head of the media commission, said parliament needed to review the new law "and take the EU recommendations into account, otherwise it will just turn in a weapon to penalize various media businesses."

The EU recommended the split-up of national numeric frequences for analog digital broadcasting, which the law provides.