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The Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK), the media watchdog of Turkey, has given the Voice of America (VOA), Deutsche Welle (DW) Türkçe and Euronews 72 hours to apply for a license. With the notification published on its official website, the 72 days have begun.
Referring to the Article 10 on the "Regulation on Radio, Television and On-Demand Online Broadcasts" pertaining to the "online broadcasting services offered without receiving a broadcasting license", the RTÜK has recalled that the broadcasts can continue for 3 months if the petition of license application and its attached letter of undertaking are submitted and the broadcasting license fee for three months is paid in advance.
According to the notification, if the proceedings of giving a license for online broadcasting cannot be completed within the indicated time period, broadcasting services can continue for 3 more months in the event that the license fee calculated for this period is paid in advance.
However, if the petition and letter of undertaking are not submitted and the license fee for 3 months are not paid or if the broadcasting services are not ended within 72 hours after the related announcement is made, an action shall be taken by the RTÜK as per the 2nd paragraph of the Article 29/A of the Law 6112 on the Establishment of Radio and Television Enterprises and Their Media Services and a request shall be made to the Criminal Judgeship of Peace to remove the related content and/or impose an access block. The RTÜK has announced that an action will also be taken as per the 1st paragraph of the Article 33 of the same law in such a case.
'Access block if no application'
Posting a message about the issue, RTÜK member İlhan Taşcı has announced that the decisions ordering the three international news websites to get a license have been uploaded to the RTÜK website.
Underlining that the indicated time period of 72 hours has begun, Taşcı has indicated that the RTÜK will request that the court impose an access block on the websites that do not submit an application.
RTÜK authorized to inspect online broadcastsAccording to the "Regulation on Radio, Television and On_Demand Online Broadcasts" published on the Official Gazette on August 1, 2019, Internet platforms such as Netflix have been obliged to get a license from the RTÜK. These websites also have to establish a company and pay taxes in Turkey so that they can continue operating in the country. The objective of the new legal regulation was explained as follows in the Official Gazette: "The objective of this regulation is to establish procedures and principles as to the online broadcast and transmission of radio, television and voluntary broadcasting services; the broadcasting licences to be granted to media service providers and the authority of broadcast transmission to be given to platform operators; and the inspection of the related broadcasts." It has also been indicated in the Gazette that the regulation in question will apply to "the private media service providing institutions that engage in online radio, television and voluntary broadcasts and the operators of these platforms that provide these broadcasting services." |
(HA/SD)
