Broadcasting License of RT DE German-Language Channel in Serbia Given Lawfully, Regulator Says

BELGRADE (Sputnik) - Serbia's Regulatory Authority of Electronic Media (REM) granted the Russian RT DE channel a broadcasting license on legal grounds, and claims that it bypassed German legislation are political, REM Chief Olivera Zekic told Sputnik on Tuesday.

The REM head said that a broadcasting license is issued when a channel meets specific requirements, so the dispute about the license of RT DE surprised her.

"RT DE met all the conditions to obtain this permission", Zekic said.

The regulator's head said that she cannot understand why Berlin claims the license was issued contrary to German legislation. Zekic stressed that all procedures were completed in accordance with the legislation and the European Convention on Transfrontier Television.

"I do not know where Germany sees a problem, because all the necessary requirements were met here. Whoever receives a license in Serbia can broadcast content both in the republic and in the EU. The TV programs which a competent body in an EU member state or Convention on Transfrontier Television member is in charge of, can be freely rebroadcast in any other EU country, or a country which joined the convention," Zekic said.

The statement was published after on Thursday, the German government said that an official investigative procedure had begun into whether it was legal to issue a license for RT TV programmes in German in Serbia.

On December 17, the head of German media regulator MABB, Eva Flecken, announced a probe against the RT broadcaster after the RT DE news channel was launched in German, allegedly without a broadcast license.