site.bta National Radio Expands Audience after MUSICAUTOR Ban

National Radio Expands Audience after MUSICAUTOR Ban

Sofia, February 13 (BTA) - The Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) on Monday reported a 20 per cent expansion of its audience in January following a ban by collective rights management society MUSICAUTOR to broadcast contemporary music. The figures are contained in a representative survey carried out by Ipsos Bulgaria between January 2 and 29 and released by Nielsen Atmosphere Bulgaria but it does not say whether the increase was due to the musical background. BNR presented data about the listenership of its programmes at its media centre on World Radio Day.

Between January 2 and 29, 2017, audience numbers increased from 13.7 per cent to 16.5 per cent, a 20 per cent increase from the last quarter of 2016. The largest increase was reported for the regional stations in Blagoevgrad and Vidin, which almost trebled their share. BNR Director General Alexander Velev assumed that this was due to the different musical background and the wealth of news in January. The copyright public dispute between BNR and MUSICAUTOR may have generated an additional interest in its programmes.

Since January 1, BNR has been airing folk, jazz and other music composed by people who have died over 75 years ago. MUSICAUTOR terminated unilaterally its agreement with BNR in late December 2016.

In a statement circulated before its news conference on Monday, MUSICAUTOR called on BNR to withdraw its claim as it had not sustained s loss of listeners. However, BNR said that it suffered other damages as well and admitted that in the days after the ban it aired music protected by MUSICAUTOR. The broadcasting organization said these were isolated cases, but MUSICAUTOR counted more than 300 infringements nd said that fines will exceed the royalties due.

Velev said he expects from the Culture Ministry to come up with a statement on the rates demanded by MUSICAUTOR. The rights society wants to gradually increase fees to 4.4 per cent of the gross revenues of the public media outlet, as much as the rates paid by private broadcasters. This also includes BNRТs state subsidy of 42 million leva and will mean that the national broadcaster will pay at least twice as much as the combined fees paid by of private broadcasters. Velev said it was unlikely that BNR would be able to afford it in his term in office.

The Director General said that despite the increase in listener numbers, the National Radio did not want the current situation to continue.