Unlike other countries, including those in the post-Soviet territory, Armenia hasn’t developed standards for a public multiplex. This is what Chairman of the National Commission on Television and Radio of Armenia Tigran Hakobyan said during parliamentary hearings over amendments to the law on audio-visual media services today.

Moreover, according to him, 50-70% of TV and radio shows need to be in Armenian and up to 40% need to be locally produced shows, something that he believes will help restrict low-quality content.

Currently, private television companies are obliged to make sure 55% of airtime consists of TV shows in Armenian. Some television companies broadcast films in Russian. The bill under consideration implies increase of the minimum threshold for airtime in Armenian up to 65%. Television stations in Armenia are the stations in the CIS territory that don’t have Russian-language shows in the broadcasting network, including news programs.