Greek TV stations banned in Albania

K-albanians use to do that same thing in Kosovo.If there was a movie or news coming from Serbia they use to cut electricity to a whole region.
No wonder they are such loving nation.

Maybe the Greeks in Albanian should propose autonomy or breaking off Albania and being annexed to Greece. Greece has a better economy and the ethnic Greeks are being oppressed in Albania. They don't have their own universities and other ethnic rights which the Kosovo Albanians expected.

If Greece wants TV stations in Albani,a than Ethnic Albanias in Chameria (North Greece) should be able to do the same, + speak their language and have rights.

@Pyrros,
If those TV Stations were not licensed properly of course will be shut down. Instead of complaining, they should get the proper licence and continue broadcasting.
Nobody is above the law, greek, albanian or anyonelse.

"f Greece wants TV stations in Albani,a than Ethnic Albanias in Chameria (North Greece) should be able to do the same, + speak their language and have rights."

Yeah ofcourse, except , there is a small technical problem:

There are no ethnic albanians in Northern Greece.

Its not only greek TVs but many albanian TVs have been shut due to lack of licences. These TVs have to pay taxes for broadcasting.
Remember couple of years ago when in Serbia some TVs were shut down also due to the same problem.
Here is the link to Serb tv shut down in Serbia last year
http://canada.ifex.org/alerts/content/view/full/73998/
During Milosevic's time about 55 TV and radio stations were closed, here is the link
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9401E5DC133AF93AA15754C0A961958260
Ah i forgot that in Serbia "its ok" to happen but this "shouldnt" happen in Albania.

Thats what we (S. epirots) have been advocating about our brothers of the north, all along.

Many families were split 50 years ago.
Argyrokastro, Ag. Saranta, Avlwna, all greek cities.

In the United States you get shut down if:

1) You broadcast without a licence.

2) You're owned or financed by an entity located outside of the United States.

3) You broadcast propaganda produced or financed by a foreign government.

Everything that everybody is up in arms about here would have happened in the United States too (Albanians shutting down Greek TV, and Serbs shutting down Albanian TV).

I am always surprised by the spin such news are given in this site. Most of the stations that were shut were not Greek but Albanian. And they weren't actually shut. Only part of their transmitters were taken down so that they don't transmit beyond the areas determined in their contracts. There such regulations in Albania as in Greece and Serbia and the EU: there are a limited number of national TV channels and local channels. Local channels simply do not have a license for broadcasting nationally. And before you jump to conclusions you should also note that the Greek parties in Albania's government have not protested the cuts because they were actually within the law.

K-albanians use to do that same thing in Kosovo.If there was a movie or news coming from Serbia they use to cut electricity to a whole region.
No wonder they are such loving nation.
(lids, 18. October 2007 13:38)

Lids, I don’t think so…

I remember I was about 5 years old when the broadcasts of the Albanian TV began from a tower in Kukes (Northern Albania). Most of Kosova finally had access to TV broadcasts that were uncensored by Belgrade. I loved watching movies and understanding the language. The movies on Sundays afternoon were awesome…

Then, all of a sudden, two years later in 1981 or 82 (not sure), the Serbian Government decided to begin broadcasting of TVB 2 (Channel 2 of Radio Televison Belgrade) right on top of the Albanian TV because they were claiming that the Albanian broadcast was stimulating the Albanian Nationalism and Chauvinism… (no comment).

Myself, a 7 years old kid, was forced to watch broadcasts in Serbian, Cyrillic, with subjects that had absolutely nothing to do with what I cared for. So, I learned Serbian, I learned Cyrillic. Now, decades later I realize that those were pure assimilation attempts.

Anyway, when the Serb broadcast would end for the day, and the transmission stopped, naturally the TV station that was being jammed would be visible again.

Serbia would call this "intrusion of Albanian TV", when in fact, they were the ones that were jamming the broadcasts from the tower in Kukes.

Anyway, in the late 80’s, the Prishtina TV (the only Albanian TV station in Kosova) began to ignore the censure from Belgrade and broadcast more shows in Albanian. Guess what happened. They were shut down...

Thank god for NATO that bombed the Serb tower and finally Kosovar Albanians were able to watch TV in their mother tongue.

As far as Lids comments, we were force-fed so much of Nemanjas, St. Savas and the Battle of Kosova in the Belgrade controlled broadcasts, it makes me sick just hearing about them. That was the true Nationalism and Chauvinism…

Anyway, that’s why everyone in Kosova went and got a satellite dish…

Wow guida, an article from 1913. Is that the best you can do? If that was the last time the Greeks did anything bad in your country, you should be so lucky to have such a complacent and subservient minority.

If a TV station is broadcasting wihtout license, than of course they should be should down, regarless on what language its prodcast.

"Maybe the Greeks in Albanian should propose autonomy or breaking off Albania and being annexed to Greece." (Ida) - Ok, as long as the few hundred thousand albanians in Greece get autonomy as well! Do you think Greece will go for that??

Albanians do not have albanian Universities in Greece either, and they are constantly attacked by greeks.

Pyrros,

Either use your nick name the right way (Pirro) or stop using it. Pirro was Epirote-Illyrian and you should stop stealing other peoples history.

The Greeks in albania are being opressed. This is one excellent example.

They need to declare independece from albania RIGHT AWAY!

Finally the albanian goverment acted in the proper maner.
No money,No Tv!
I think those greek television should learn how to pay taxes,as they do in their own country,and not occupy illegaly the Albanian frequencys.

Pyrros what are you talking about?
There are 200'000 Chams in albania just waiting to have back their possessions in south-epir,because they are the only real south epirotes.Soon or later you will have to deal with them in a legal way,you know they have some things called:"Land Certificate".

First of all the title of the "news" itself is wrong. There were no bans of any kind of TV stations whatsoever.

In order to have more audience, one should have a larger radius of signal. To have a larger radius, one (TV Station) should apply for a different licence, which of course COSTS MORE. The government, after several attempts of reminding all those stations that they were abusing with the signal radius (enforced by illegal repetitors), decided to take the repetitors down from wherever they were in the territory of the state. More Albanian TV stations were actually affected by this economic move which aims at bringing more cash to the economy by proper licencing of TV Stations. It is inapropriate to give this move a nationalistic nuance, so common in old days Balkans.

"Myself, a 7 years old kid, was forced to watch broadcasts in Serbian, Cyrillic,"

no kiddin? in 1981, 2? that would be highly unusual since the cyrillic made it back to bgrade tv in the late 1980s. anyway i feel your pain, it's really a stigma speaking several languages and using more than one alphabet. a serious handicap :)

on a more serious note, i wish i spoke some albanian and if i lived in kosovo i certainly would. I have a friend who is a policeman who spent a lot of time down there in 1990s and who actually speaks some which i think is good, not bad.

mike, that was to prove greek imperialism

too bad the archives don't go beyond 1913 otherwise you'd find a bunch

The word these days is integration. Terrible example to not let the airwaves travel across borders!

By the way, I have to applaud Afrim for bringing additional evidence as a counterargument to the discussion. No nationalist bravado here but a show at how similar actions take place elsewhere. And that he was able to show relevant information shows how to have a decent argument here.

Albania has no respect for the Greek & other minorities that have been living in Eiperus for thousands of years. Is the Albanian governement worried that a large Greek population posses a threat to the southern region of that country? Don't be foolish Albania as you have a lot to lose in Europe.

I can't believe the majority of comments coming from this one article.

An article over the shutting down of five Greek TV stations in Albania spills over into irredentist nationalism by people on this site, and even the accusation that one side is stealing history from the other. Dear God people, don't you have anything else better to do? If it's not Kosovo, it Epiros, and if it's not Epiros, it's Presevo.

Good move. no license, no tv.
Greeks have done enough damage

see this news report from 1913 on NY Times...

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9802E0D7123FE633A25750C2A96F9C946296D6CF

If Greece wants TV stations in Albani,a than Ethnic Albanias in Chameria (North Greece) should be able to do the same, + speak their language and have rights.

Its not only greek TVs but many albanian TVs have been shut due to lack of licences. These TVs have to pay taxes for broadcasting.
Remember couple of years ago when in Serbia some TVs were shut down also due to the same problem.
Here is the link to Serb tv shut down in Serbia last year
http://canada.ifex.org/alerts/content/view/full/73998/
During Milosevic's time about 55 TV and radio stations were closed, here is the link
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9401E5DC133AF93AA15754C0A961958260
Ah i forgot that in Serbia "its ok" to happen but this "shouldnt" happen in Albania.

@Pyrros,
If those TV Stations were not licensed properly of course will be shut down. Instead of complaining, they should get the proper licence and continue broadcasting.
Nobody is above the law, greek, albanian or anyonelse.

If a TV station is broadcasting wihtout license, than of course they should be should down, regarless on what language its prodcast.

"Maybe the Greeks in Albanian should propose autonomy or breaking off Albania and being annexed to Greece." (Ida) - Ok, as long as the few hundred thousand albanians in Greece get autonomy as well! Do you think Greece will go for that??

Albanians do not have albanian Universities in Greece either, and they are constantly attacked by greeks.

Good move. no license, no tv.
Greeks have done enough damage

see this news report from 1913 on NY Times...

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9802E0D7123FE633A25750C2A96F9C946296D6CF

Maybe the Greeks in Albanian should propose autonomy or breaking off Albania and being annexed to Greece. Greece has a better economy and the ethnic Greeks are being oppressed in Albania. They don't have their own universities and other ethnic rights which the Kosovo Albanians expected.

Finally the albanian goverment acted in the proper maner.
No money,No Tv!
I think those greek television should learn how to pay taxes,as they do in their own country,and not occupy illegaly the Albanian frequencys.

Pyrros what are you talking about?
There are 200'000 Chams in albania just waiting to have back their possessions in south-epir,because they are the only real south epirotes.Soon or later you will have to deal with them in a legal way,you know they have some things called:"Land Certificate".

K-albanians use to do that same thing in Kosovo.If there was a movie or news coming from Serbia they use to cut electricity to a whole region.
No wonder they are such loving nation.
(lids, 18. October 2007 13:38)

Lids, I don’t think so…

I remember I was about 5 years old when the broadcasts of the Albanian TV began from a tower in Kukes (Northern Albania). Most of Kosova finally had access to TV broadcasts that were uncensored by Belgrade. I loved watching movies and understanding the language. The movies on Sundays afternoon were awesome…

Then, all of a sudden, two years later in 1981 or 82 (not sure), the Serbian Government decided to begin broadcasting of TVB 2 (Channel 2 of Radio Televison Belgrade) right on top of the Albanian TV because they were claiming that the Albanian broadcast was stimulating the Albanian Nationalism and Chauvinism… (no comment).

Myself, a 7 years old kid, was forced to watch broadcasts in Serbian, Cyrillic, with subjects that had absolutely nothing to do with what I cared for. So, I learned Serbian, I learned Cyrillic. Now, decades later I realize that those were pure assimilation attempts.

Anyway, when the Serb broadcast would end for the day, and the transmission stopped, naturally the TV station that was being jammed would be visible again.

Serbia would call this "intrusion of Albanian TV", when in fact, they were the ones that were jamming the broadcasts from the tower in Kukes.

Anyway, in the late 80’s, the Prishtina TV (the only Albanian TV station in Kosova) began to ignore the censure from Belgrade and broadcast more shows in Albanian. Guess what happened. They were shut down...

Thank god for NATO that bombed the Serb tower and finally Kosovar Albanians were able to watch TV in their mother tongue.

As far as Lids comments, we were force-fed so much of Nemanjas, St. Savas and the Battle of Kosova in the Belgrade controlled broadcasts, it makes me sick just hearing about them. That was the true Nationalism and Chauvinism…

Anyway, that’s why everyone in Kosova went and got a satellite dish…

Thats what we (S. epirots) have been advocating about our brothers of the north, all along.

Many families were split 50 years ago.
Argyrokastro, Ag. Saranta, Avlwna, all greek cities.

Pyrros,

Either use your nick name the right way (Pirro) or stop using it. Pirro was Epirote-Illyrian and you should stop stealing other peoples history.

K-albanians use to do that same thing in Kosovo.If there was a movie or news coming from Serbia they use to cut electricity to a whole region.
No wonder they are such loving nation.

The word these days is integration. Terrible example to not let the airwaves travel across borders!

"f Greece wants TV stations in Albani,a than Ethnic Albanias in Chameria (North Greece) should be able to do the same, + speak their language and have rights."

Yeah ofcourse, except , there is a small technical problem:

There are no ethnic albanians in Northern Greece.

I am always surprised by the spin such news are given in this site. Most of the stations that were shut were not Greek but Albanian. And they weren't actually shut. Only part of their transmitters were taken down so that they don't transmit beyond the areas determined in their contracts. There such regulations in Albania as in Greece and Serbia and the EU: there are a limited number of national TV channels and local channels. Local channels simply do not have a license for broadcasting nationally. And before you jump to conclusions you should also note that the Greek parties in Albania's government have not protested the cuts because they were actually within the law.

The Greeks in albania are being opressed. This is one excellent example.

They need to declare independece from albania RIGHT AWAY!

In the United States you get shut down if:

1) You broadcast without a licence.

2) You're owned or financed by an entity located outside of the United States.

3) You broadcast propaganda produced or financed by a foreign government.

Everything that everybody is up in arms about here would have happened in the United States too (Albanians shutting down Greek TV, and Serbs shutting down Albanian TV).

I can't believe the majority of comments coming from this one article.

An article over the shutting down of five Greek TV stations in Albania spills over into irredentist nationalism by people on this site, and even the accusation that one side is stealing history from the other. Dear God people, don't you have anything else better to do? If it's not Kosovo, it Epiros, and if it's not Epiros, it's Presevo.

Wow guida, an article from 1913. Is that the best you can do? If that was the last time the Greeks did anything bad in your country, you should be so lucky to have such a complacent and subservient minority.

"Myself, a 7 years old kid, was forced to watch broadcasts in Serbian, Cyrillic,"

no kiddin? in 1981, 2? that would be highly unusual since the cyrillic made it back to bgrade tv in the late 1980s. anyway i feel your pain, it's really a stigma speaking several languages and using more than one alphabet. a serious handicap :)

on a more serious note, i wish i spoke some albanian and if i lived in kosovo i certainly would. I have a friend who is a policeman who spent a lot of time down there in 1990s and who actually speaks some which i think is good, not bad.

By the way, I have to applaud Afrim for bringing additional evidence as a counterargument to the discussion. No nationalist bravado here but a show at how similar actions take place elsewhere. And that he was able to show relevant information shows how to have a decent argument here.

First of all the title of the "news" itself is wrong. There were no bans of any kind of TV stations whatsoever.

In order to have more audience, one should have a larger radius of signal. To have a larger radius, one (TV Station) should apply for a different licence, which of course COSTS MORE. The government, after several attempts of reminding all those stations that they were abusing with the signal radius (enforced by illegal repetitors), decided to take the repetitors down from wherever they were in the territory of the state. More Albanian TV stations were actually affected by this economic move which aims at bringing more cash to the economy by proper licencing of TV Stations. It is inapropriate to give this move a nationalistic nuance, so common in old days Balkans.

mike, that was to prove greek imperialism

too bad the archives don't go beyond 1913 otherwise you'd find a bunch

Albania has no respect for the Greek & other minorities that have been living in Eiperus for thousands of years. Is the Albanian governement worried that a large Greek population posses a threat to the southern region of that country? Don't be foolish Albania as you have a lot to lose in Europe.