The Independent Media Commission (IMC) on May 10, 2024, under the leadership of the Chairman of the IMC Mr. Jeton Mehmeti, has held the fifth regular meeting for this year. In this meeting, the Commission addressed several items on the agenda, such as the agreement between IMC and AEK (Agency for Electronic Communications of North Macedonia), the terms of reference for the Subcommittee for the review and standardization of procedures related to the change of ownership of IMC's licensees. of, review of the initiation of the decision for the formation of the working group for the consumer protection regulation as well as 4 licensing cases and 6 legal cases.

Regarding the point of the agreement between IMC and AEK, the Chairman Mr. Mehemti said that it is a very important agreement between two neighboring countries, with the aim of coordinating terrestrial frequencies and avoiding interference in terrestrial frequency transmissions, and which agreement is expected to be finalized by soon.

The Commission has approved the terms of reference for the Subcommittee for the review and standardization of procedures related to the change of ownership of IMC licensees and the Working Group for the Complaints Regulation.

As for the cases of licensing, the Chairman Mr. Mehmeti said that I must once again repeat the appeal that all licensees respect the legislation of the IMC, specifically regarding the change of ownership which must be done only with prior approval from the of the IMC.

According to the agenda, the Commission has examined several cases of the nature of licensing, where after examination it has approved the requests for change of ownership and renewal of the license for "Radio Sharri" and "Radio Plus", while it has rejected the request for renewal of the license from "Radio Max ". The request for OSHMA NTV licensing has been postponed to the next meeting due to insufficient documentation.

Regarding the legal cases, the Commission has reviewed one case for violation of Regulation 2020/01 for Audiovisual Media Service Distribution Providers and five other cases for violation of IMC-2023/03 Regulation on Ownership and Concentration of IMC Licensees, respectively change of ownership without prior approval of the IMC.

After examination, the Commission has sanctioned the following licensees:

The distribution operator ISP Broadcast - for continuous violation of Regulation IMC-2020/01 for Audiovisual Media Service Distribution Providers, is sanctioned with a fine in the amount of two thousand (2,000) euros.

Herc TV - for continuous violation of IMC-2023/03 Regulation on Ownership and Concentration of IMC Licensees, is sanctioned with two thousand (2,000) euros.

Radio Herc - for continuous violation of IMC-2023/03 Regulation on Ownership and Concentration of IMC Licensees, is sanctioned with one thousand (1,000) euros

Travelingo Tv - for continuous violation of IMC-2023/03 Regulation on Ownership and Concentration of IMC Licensees, is sanctioned with one thousand (1,000) euros

Suite Tv - for continuous violation of IMC-2023/03 Regulation on Ownership and Concentration of IMC Licensees, is sanctioned with one thousand (1,000) euros

Positive Gold Tv - for continuous violation of IMC-2023/03 Regulation on Ownership and Concentration of IMC Licensees, is sanctioned with one thousand (1,000) euros.

Entities sanctioned for these legal cases, i.e. change of ownership without prior approval of the IMC, are obliged to submit the request for the change of ownership to the IMC within 30 days.