After a dispute with the Agency for Audio and Audiovisual Media Services, yesterday the Government quarreled with the cable operators regarding what the Minister for Communications and Accountability, Robert Popovski really meant when he spoke about copyright infringement on Friday.
The Cable Operators Association (COA) and the Economic Interest Network of the operators of the cable network MK NET yesterday announced that allegations by Minister Popovski were incorrect and that the copyrights were not being respected by the cable operators and that they lied to their subscribers.
“It is an astonishing fact that in the 21st century, a minister presents facts and allegations that are completely untrue, not well-argued and unprotected with facts and evidence. To lie and fool the public with that kind of offensive and lousy statements, he is tearing down the entire faith that built trust for decades with their subscribers”, the organizations said.
According to them, huge amounts in the millions are being paid abroad, precisely for royalties to foreign TV channels and if the minister made appropriate analysis of the situation on copyright, he would know that at the moment there is no criminal procedure for piracy against any of the cable providers, nor is there any offense procedure for re-transmission without the agreement of any TV channel against some cable operator.
The text is made within the framework of the project “Media Reform Observatory”, implemented by the Foundation for Internet and Society Metamorphosis, “Agora” Center for Promoting Civil Values and the Platform for Investigative Journalism and Analyzes – PINA, with the financial support of the “Foundation Open” Society – Mace
donia “. The content of the text is the sole responsibility of the authors and can in no way be considered to reflect the views of the “Open Society Foundation – Macedonia”.
