Obligations of Television Channels

The Mass Media Act and the Act on Audiovisual Media Services impose certain obligations on television channel broadcasters. The Agency supervises their execution in the scope of expert and inspection supervision. Some obligations are stricter for the television channels of RTV Slovenija and the television channels of special importance.

Annual reports

Every year each television channel broadcaster must:  

• by the end of March submit to the Agency a written report on performing activities and meeting the goals of the program outline (Article 14 of the Media Act),

• by the end of February submit to the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport as well as the Broadcasting Council the report on fulfilling the ethical codes with aesthetic and ethical measures for broadcasting programming, which must also include the data on received complaints from the viewers and their handling (Article 84 of the Mass Media Act for 2011; as of 17 November 2011 the provisions of the Act on Audiovisual Media Services apply),

• by the end of February submit to the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport as well as the Agency the data on the achieved share of European audiovisual works in annual broadcast time, which must specifically show the data on the shares of in-house production, audiovisual work of Slovenian producers, audiovisual work from independent producers, and new audiovisual work from independent European producers created in the past five years (Article 91 of the Mass Media Act for 2011; as of 17 November 2011 the provisions of the Act on Audiovisual Media Services apply, i.e. Article 18).

Protection of children and minors

Protection of children and minors is defined in detail in Article 14 of the Act on Audiovisual Media Services, which, among other things, defines that:

• television channels must not broadcast content that might seriously harm the physical, mental, or moral development of children and minors, especially any content that contains pornography or depicts gratuitous violence,

• the broadcasting of potentially harmful content is permissible, if it is limited by technical means and a properly selected broadcast time, so that children and minors have no access to it under normal conditions  →  content that is not suitable for children and minors under 12 may be broadcast after 9 PM, content not suitable for children and minors under 15 after 10 PM, and content not suitable for children and minors under 18 after 12 AM – but such content may be broadcast until 5 AM at the latest,

• the broadcasters of television channels are obliged to broadcast an appropriate audio and visual warning before broadcasting potentially harmful content, and during the broadcast this content must be marked with an appropriate visual symbol (the minister in charge of the media sets the sound and visual warning, the visual symbol, and the manner of broadcasting),

• The protection of children and minors is also defined in The Rules on Assigning the Visual and Sound Warning for Content That Is Not Suitable for Children and Minors (the general act based on the Act on Audiovisual Media Services and named The Rules the Protection of Children and Minors in Television Programs and On Demand Audiovisual Media Services).

Own production

The share of in-house production is defined in detail by Article 85 of the Mass Media Act, which, among other things, states that:

• the share of in-house production must encompass at least 20 percent of daily broadcast time, of which at least 60 minutes must be between 6 PM and 10 PM,

• a rerun of a television show must be clearly marked; the share of own production can include only the first rerun of a program, except for reruns of television talk shows.

Own production is also defined in The Rules on Measures for Defining In-house Production Content.

Slovenian music

The share of Slovenian music is defined in detail by Article 86 of the Media Act, where it is stated that Slovenian music or music production from Slovenian artists and musicians should represent:

• at least 20 percent of all the music broadcast daily on each television channel,

• at least 40 percent of the music on all the television channels of RTV Slovenija,

• at least 25 percent of the music on all the television channels of special importance,

These provisions do not apply to television channels intended for Hungarian and Italian minorities.

Audiovisual works

The Agency supervises the shares of audiovisual works of Slovenian producers, audiovisual works of European producers, and audiovisual works from independent European producers in the annual broadcast time.
 
Detailed requests regarding the shares of audiovisual works of Slovenian producers can be found in Articled 87 and 92 (except for paragraph 1, which is no longer applicable) of the Mass Media Act, and regarding the shares of European audiovisual works or works from independent producers in Articles 16 and 17 of the Act on Audiovisual Media Services.
 
Audiovisual works of Slovenian producers are defined also by the Regulation on the Measures and Conditions for Determining Slovenian Audiovisual Works.

Television advertising

The concept of television advertising and the form of audiovisual commercial messages is defined in detail by the Act on Audiovisual Media Services (Articles 19–32), while in some segments the provisions of the Mass Media Act are still applicable.
 
Audiovisual commercial messages must be clearly recognizable and must not use technical procedures that might not allow users to consciously detect such messages. Surreptitious audiovisual commercial messages are forbidden.
 
Television advertising and telemarketing must be clearly recognizable, so that they can be distinguished from editorial content. They must be published in special segments, so that they are visibly and audibly separated from other programming.
 
The total scope of television advertising and telemarketing in a television channel must not surpass 12 minutes of any individual hour.
 
For television channels of RTV Slovenija, the total scope of television advertising and telemarketing in a television channel must not surpass 10 minutes of any individual hour, and during 6 PM and 11 PM it must not surpass 7 minutes of any individual hour.
 
RTV Slovenija’s television channels and stations with the status of special importance must not interrupt television program units such as feature films and TV films (except for serial films, TV shows, and entertainment programming), news programs, and programs with a cultural, artistic, scientific, or educational nature with television advertising or telemarketing.