The Broadcasting Coordination Council (BCC) on June 7 selected the winners of the contest to fill the three slots available in Multiplex A. Thus, of the five applicant TV channels, most of the Council members voted for Accent TV, Jurnal TV and ITV, IPN reports.

The BCC members explained that they supported the TV channels that broadcast the largest volumes of national products and that lay greater emphasis on televised products in Romanian.

“I think that we must first of all respect our consumers and our language, traditions and values. Those who do not meet strict criteria when applying for slots in the first Multiplex, concerning the Romanian language, should not be offered slots,” said Olga Barbalata.

The other two channels that remained without slots are NTV Moldova and RTR Moldova. The BCC members warned the representatives of the two TV channels about the large volume of Russian products they retransmit and the low number of programs and newscasts broadcast in Romanian.

At the beginning of this year, there was held the first contest to fill the 15 slots of Multiplex A. As a result, there were chosen 12 TV channels. A new contest was announced to fill the remaining three slots.

Multiplex A envisions the provision of TV program services in standard definition. This covers 65% of Moldova’s territory and 75% of the population. The period of validity of the broadcast license for using the digital terrestrial multiplex is seven years.