At the meeting of the Sector Economy and Economic Policy Committee, the draft law on amendments to the law of Georgia on Broadcasting was discussed in the first reading. The draft law was presented by Paata Kvizhinadze, Chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee.
According to the speaker, the purpose of preparing the presented project is to modify and refine the existing rule of financing the broadcaster as provided by the Law of Georgia on Broadcasting. In particular, the norm of financing the broadcaster defined by the Law on Broadcasting, which previously stipulated the financing of the broadcaster at a minimum of 0.14% of the gross domestic product, is now being removed.
"From 2026, the financing of the Public Broadcaster will be calculated based on the data of employed persons published by the Statistics Service. In other words, the amount of funding for the Public Broadcaster in the previous year was determined at 82 million GEL. This number was divided by the number of employees in the previous year, resulting in a coefficient of 64. Therefore, starting in 2026, the number of employees announced by the Statistics Service will be multiplied by 64, and the Public Broadcaster will be financed with the amount obtained through this calculation”, - the speaker noted.
According to Paata Kvizhinadze, during the law enforcement period, in 2024 and 2025, the public broadcaster will receive funding equivalent to this year's allocation, which amounts to 101 million GEL. This funding is intended to support the broadcaster in completing construction works and equipping the new building.
It was also mentioned that, as per the project, if the number of employees at the broadcaster increases, the funding for television will also increase. Conversely, if the number of employees decreases, the broadcaster's funding will remain the same.
The proposed draft law also includes amendments to the Budget Code of Georgia. The committee expressed its support for the considered draft law.
