Macedonia’s Broadcasting Council Calls on Cable Operators To Observe Copyrights When Broadcasting Foreign Programs

The Broadcasting Council (BC) of the Republic of Macedonia released a statement on November 2, calling on the cable operators to observe the copyrights and related rights when broadcasting foreign TV channels.

The announcement comes following the sudden taking off the air of the Albanian TV channel Top Channel by Macedonia’s cable operator Cabletel. The BC noted that airing foreign channels that do not have copyright agreements with cable operators is considered an infringement.

BC director Zoran Stefanovski stressed that, although the Macedonian cable operators had made many changes following the numerous warnings by the BC, they are still not fully compliant with the copyright law. He explained that the BC is preparing a list of TV channels for which copyrights for broadcast in Macedonia can be obtained, adding that this will help the cable operators observe the statutory regulations and enrich their program schemes.

“The BC’s objective is to raise the level of protection of intellectual property and contribute to the fight against unfair competition. The cable operators should compete among each other with better prices and better quality of services and program schemes, not by broadcasting channels without regulated copyrights,” BC director Zoran Stefanovski emphasized.

The BC informed that it would continue to monitor all cable operators with the objective of removing all channels without copyright agreements.

For more information, please contact Aleksandra Noveska at our Macedonia office.