GYUMRI MAYOR PROPOSES THAT "GALA" PAY INADMISSIBLY LARGE RENT PAYMENT FOR OLD TELEVISION TOWER

Noyan Tapan
Dec 17 2007

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 17, NOYAN TAPAN. Gymri mayor and the mayor’s
office have actually rejected the proposal regarding the tripartite
agreement on the use of Gyumri’s old tower by "Gala" TV company,
because they have asked an inadmissibly high price for rental, is said
in a statement of the headquarters on protection of speech freedom and
" Gala" television company.

According to it, the head of the information unit of the mayor’s
office L. Aghekian told the headquarter’s coordinator Levon Barseghian
during a phone talk on December 17 at 1 p.m. that the mayor’s office
considers it expedient to charge a monthly payment of 200 thousand
drams – for payment of the past debt.

The headquarters stated that this sum is unreasonable as television
companies pay about 120-140 thousand drams a month (for installation
and servicing of the aerial placed on Gyumri’s main ("new") television
tower at the height of 140-150 metres) to the Gyumri branch of the
Armenian Television Network CJSC of the RA ministry of transport
and communication.

Whereas, "Gala" uses 50-meter-high old tower which was partly repaired
prior to its use by Chap LLC – the founder of "Gala".

To recap, during the December 13 meeting with the mayor Vardan
Ghukasian, L. Barseghian proposed signing a tripartite agreement
among him, the mayor’s office and "Gala", by which L. Barseghian was
obliged to pay a reasonable sum for the use of the old television
tower over the past 2.5 years, while the mayor’s office was to give
up its decision to solve the problem in court and to rent the tower to
"Gala" for a reasonable payment.