The Broadcasting Sphere and the Grounds for Activity
Broadcasting in Georgia is regulated by the law on broadcasting and mass media, and for authorization and licensing purposes the sphere covers media services and video-sharing platform services. Activity is carried out by the public broadcaster and by its Adjara television and radio, as well as on the basis of licensing or authorization. The decisive distinction: activity in the broadcasting sphere, except airwave radio broadcasting, is subject to authorization, while a license is issued only for radio broadcasting carried out through transmitters using the radio frequency spectrum. Television thus falls under the authorization regime, while spectrum-dependent radio follows the license and competition route. Authorization is granted for an indefinite term, which lowers the entry barrier, but a dense package of obligations attaches to the authorized person.
Types of Broadcasting and Required Information
The types of broadcasting are television and radio; the kinds are community, private and university broadcasting, the subtypes of private being general and specialized, with the thematic focus of programs indicated for specialized broadcasting. By geographical area broadcasting is national or local, and by availability it may be paid or free. Upon licensing or authorization, the language, the distribution technology, the start deadline and the expected geographical zone must be indicated, and the minimum daily duration for airwave television must be 12 hours. Transit using the frequency spectrum is allowed only for the unchanged retransmission of a licensed radio broadcaster, during free airtime, when the provider of transit carries out no broadcasting of its own; transit of a broadcaster resident in another state is admissible only where a respective international treaty exists.
The License Term and the Competition Procedure
A license is issued for a term of 10 years. After expiry it is extended once, for the same term, automatically, if no sanctions envisaged by the law have been applied to the holder; the holder then pays the license fee and the initial fee established at the moment of continuation. Otherwise the holder applies to the commission 6 months before expiry for the announcement of a competition, which the commission holds before the license expires. A license for airwave broadcasting is issued on the basis of a competition whose announcement specifies the type, kind and subtype of the license, the minimum duration and geographical zone, the programming requirements, the technical parameters, the license fee and the dates of the sessions.
Applications are received within the following 1 month from publication; within 3 working days after the reception deadline a preparatory meeting is held, and for incomplete documentation the commission grants an additional 5 working days, submission by post being prohibited. The applications remain available for public review for 20 days, and an oral hearing is held after 20 days from publication of the public-review notice. Evaluation proceeds on the programming aspect — the diversity of the programs, their correspondence with the interests of the audience and the existence of other broadcasters; for a community radio license, the interests of the community and the services of broadcasters already operating in the expected zone are weighed. Where evaluations are equal, the winner is the seeker who broadcast on the frequencies put out to competition under an earlier license; a single participant is declared winner upon confirmation of payment. If a permit of another agency is needed, the commission, under the one-stop principle, applies to the agencies within 5 working days, a refusal within the subsequent 20 working days being possible only with reasons and ways to cure the non-compliance. Where the winner fails to pay 20% of the license fee within the set deadline, the license is refused and the seeker is barred from competitions for 2 years.