The Independent Media Commission (IMC), on October 3, 2023, under the leadership of the Chairman of the IMC, Mr. Jeton Mehmeti, held its eighth regular meeting for this year.

At the beginning of the meeting, the Commission approved the President's proposal to change the agenda, putting on the agenda the case of the broadcast of the "Arena Sport" channels that showed supportive and threatening messages for the terrorist attack of September 24, 2023 in Banjska,

After the approval of the agenda, the Chairman Mr. Mehmeti said that the Executive Office of the Independent Media Commission, on October 1, 2023, initiated ex-officio monitoring of distribution operators, due to the suspicion that some operators distribute channels with threatening content. We already have evidence that the sports channels of "Arena Sport" have broadcast content that is contrary to the IMC regulation 2020/01. That means, video messages have been broadcast which come from Serbia and which have contents which glorify the terrorist attack in the north and above all are threatening messages for the citizens of the Republic of Kosovo. Therefore, I recommend that as a Commission we take a decision which obliges the distribution operators to immediately stop the platforms of the "Arena" channels and this proportional measure will be valid until another decision of the Commission.

After discussions on the case by other members of the IMC, the Commission made a decision to order the distribution operators to immediately stop broadcasting the "Arena Sport" channels on their platforms, in order to prevent program contents that violate the national interest. and general security in the Republic of Kosovo. This measure will be valid until another decision of the Commission.

In the continuation of the meeting, the Commission considered the placement in public discussion of the following draft regulations:

• Draft Regulation for the protection of children and minors in audio-visual media services;

• Draft Regulation for commercial audio and audio-visual communications;

• Draft Regulation on the ownership and concentration of IMC licensees.

After reviewing the drafts, based on Article 8 paragraph 2, of the Law on the IMC No. 04/L-44, the Commission has approved the public discussion of the draft regulations in question.

IMC makes a public invitation to citizens, representatives of audio-visual media services and other interested parties, to send written comments on the aforementioned draft regulations. The open period for public written comments is 15 days and begins on the day the drafts are published.

According to the agenda, the Commission has also examined several cases of requests for radio license renewal. After the review, the Commission made a decision to renew the license of Radio Astra, Radio Ylberi, Radio Fontana, Radio Elit and Radio Vala 2000. Also related to the issue of renewal of licenses, the Commission also reviewed a summary report on the renewal of licenses, respectively for licensees who have not applied for license renewal at all.

The last item on the agenda of the meeting was the discussion of the report regarding the broadcasting rights of the Premier League. After discussion, the Commission decided to continue this matter further and communicate with the distribution operators and ask them to provide evidence for the rights to rebroadcast the Premier League in the territory of the Republic of Kosovo. In addition, the Premier League should be informed about the decision and the reasons for today's decision of the IMC for the sports channels of "Arena Sport" and clarify the possibilities for local Kosovar companies to receive the broadcasting rights of the Premier League for the territory of the Republic of Kosovo.