"FREEDOM CLOSES ITS DEBT"

Panorama.am
20:25 17/09/2007

"All issues concerning the Freedom radio station have been solved,
including those of financing. Freedom has closed its debts with
National Radio." Thus stated Alexan Harutyunyan, president of the
commission of National Television and Radio, at a press conference
today. According to him, it is now possible to say that all questions
related to Freedom radio have been solved, in the best manner
possible. The commission president considers these the best possible
solutions because "Air time cannot be granted to a broadcaster without
some sort of competition."

Another reason Harutyunyan gave was that he didn’t approve of the other
countries where Freedom was broadcast on their national radio stations:
Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan. Harutyunyan notes it as unimportant that
the show isn’t in first-tier programming, as besides listening to the
programs on radio, citizens can also find the show on the Internet
or elsewhere.

During Freedom’s air time, music or other programming will be aired,
even though Harutyunyan was tempted to broadcast "Radio News" during
that time slot, so the competition would be more evident. Here we
have to take into consideration that the long-lasting cooperation
between National Radio and Freedom would be exempt from that step.

Harutyunyan now wishes that the relations that have existed stay as
good as before.