It Affects You demands the continuation of Must Carry

The public movement It Affects You has demanded the continuation of the Must Carry and Must Offer guidelines after the election period has passed. A statement concerning the issue was presented by the movement on September 7.

NGO and civil society representatives claim that the existence of the Must Carry and Must Offer rules have significantly contributed to the publics' accessibility to a diverse range of information. However, the challenge of disseminating large amounts information remains.

Members of the movement claim that the government has still not expressed its wish to encourage the continuation of Must Carry and Must Offer after the election date. “In the absence of Must Carry, Georgian citizens will be at a disadvantage with regard to accessing a diverse range of information,” the movement explained. In addition, the fact that the Georgian government confiscated satellite antennas belonging to various companies could also be taken as negative step in this regard.

It Affects You has recently proposed two conditions to the government: 1. The government should provide guarantees that Must Carry and Must Offer will be continued after the elections until digital broadcasting is introduced to the country. 2. The government should discontinue its seizure of satellite antennas owned by various TV channels, as well as use monitoring methods as opposed to the seizure approach.

“Must carry is a very significant achievement within Georgian society and we believe that the achievement should continue,” Chair of the Young Lawyers Association, Tamar Chugoshvili said.

According to the National Commission of Georgian Communication, 190, 000 subscribers use Must Carry and Must offer.

“There are nearly 114 companies which have the right to transmit broadcasting. However, there are only 80 which function,” Spokesperson of the Commission, Khatia Kurashvili said.

Government representatives claim that the authorities should not be involved in such issues. According to MP Akaki Minashvili, the government should not interfere in the internal issues of the cable companies and the TV channels.

“We have taken the publics' interest into consideration and have compelled the companies to transmit all broadcasts for a two-month period. As for the post election period, the TV channels and cable companies should agree on and decide how to proceed in the future,” Minashvili stated.