Numerous are the audiovisual media in Lebanon that compete with each other and with the foreign media. Some succeed while others fail. This may be because they lack sufficient income to face the large burden of operational costs as well as the high governmental fees, which some fail to pay.

Government fees

Law No. 382 dated November 11, 1994 (Television and Radio Broadcasting), set the fees to be paid by the audiovisual media as follows:

-     Television stations of the first and second categories (the first category broadcasts all kinds of programs including news and political programs and the second category does not broadcast news and political programs): LBP 250 million and an annual rental fee of LBP 100 million.

-    Radio stations of the first category (that broadcast all kinds of programs including news and political programs): LBP 125 million as a license fee and a rental fee of LBP 25 million.

-    Radio stations of the second category (that broadcast all kinds of programs excluding news and political programs): LBP 50 million as a license fee and a rental fee of LBP 15 million.

Licenses to the audiovisual media

In accordance with the above-mentioned law and Decree No. 7992 dated June 29, 1996 (Approval of the Bylaws of Audiovisual Media Stations of the first and second categories), decrees were issued to license audiovisual media stations for a period of 16 renewable years. Thus, there are 32 licensed stations distributed as follows:

-   7 television stations of the first category

-   12 radio stations of the first category

-   13 radio stations of the second category

These stations are:

-    Decree No. 10056 dated 21-3-1997: Future TV – first category

-    Decree No. 10057 dated 21-3-1997: L.B.C TV – first category

-    Decree No. 10058 dated 21-3-1997: MTV – first category

-    Decree No. 10059 dated 21-3-1997: N.B.N TV – first category

-    Decree No. 13474 dated 5-11-1998:

•    Future TV Company: radio – first category
•    National Broadcasting Network: radio – first category
•    Liban Libre Company for Production and Broadcasting: radio – first category
•    The International Company for Broadcasting (Shaab - the people): radio – first category
•    The Modern Media Company (Voice of Lebanon): radio – first category
•    The Voice of Tomorrow Company: radio – first category
•    Delta Company: radio – second category
•    Radio Scope Company: radio – second category
•    Murr TV Company (Mont Liban): radio – second category
•    France FM Company: radio – second category
•    Light FM Company: radio – second category
•    Faddoul Music Company: radio – second category
•    Radio One Company: radio – second category
•    Sound of Music Company: radio – second category
•    Pax Network Company: radio – second category
•    Nostalgie Broadcasting Company: radio – second category
•    Liban Star: radio – second category
•    Mix FM New Company: radio – second category

-    Decree No. 13475 dated 5-11-1998

•    Fan Voice Company: radio – first category
•    The International Network for Broadcasting: radio – first category
•    Strike Company: radio – second category

-    Decree No. 13476 dated 5-11-1998: Al Manar TV - the first category

-    Resolution nNo. 53 dated 29-9-1999: Al Watan (Nation) Radio

-    Decree No. 3964 dated 2-10-2000: New TV – first category

-    Decree No. 17312 dated 30-6-2006: Lebanese Broadcasting Company - first category (OTV)

-    Decree No. 658 dated 24-8-2007: Al Fajr Radio Company – first category

-    Decree No. 894 dated 8-11-2007: Lebanese Company for Media Broadcasting, “Radio Sevan”- first category

-    Decree No. 2343 dated 20-6-2009: the new company for audio-visual media - first category (Voice of Lebanon belonging to the Phalange Party)

License Fees

By virtue of article 27 of Law No. 382, the license fees for these stations reach LBP 3.9 billion distributed as follows:

-    LBP 1.750 billion: licenses for television stations of the first category

-    LBP 1.5 billion: licenses for radio stations of the first category

-    LBP 650 billion: licenses for radio stations of the second category

The annual rental fees reach LBP 1.195 billion distributed as follows:

-    LBP 700 billion for television stations of the first category

-    LBP 300 billion for radio stations of the first category

-    LBP 195 billion for radio stations of the second category

The stations don’t pay!

Despite the issuance of several decrees, some licensed stations fail to pay these fees and the government does not revoke their licenses but rather allows them to pay the unsettled amounts in installments. In its Decision No. 35 dated September 19, 2002, the Council of Ministers allowed the payment of fees in installments provided that the institution pays 25% of the total amount due as a down payment before October 1, 2002, the remaining amount to be paid in 5 equal monthly installments at the beginning of each month after October 1, 2002. When an institution fails to pay an installment on the due date, all installments are immediately due and must be paid within 1 month from the due date of the installment that has not been paid. An institution that doesn’t pay shall be legally closed. However, this resolution has not been implemented in practice. On July 31, 2007, i.e. 5 years after the issuance of Decision No. 35, the Central Inspection Board recommended the implementation of the said decision but the claim remained unanswered. Thus, on December 23, 2009, the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers once again demanded the Ministry of Information to implement the recommendation of the Central Inspection Board, which was based on a decision of the Council of Ministers. Accordingly, the Ministry of Information suggested to the Council of Ministers to allow the payment of the amounts due in installments “given the difficult circumstances faced by some of these stations and the limited advertising market due to competition against Arab and foreign satellite broadcasting stations” (as stated in the response of the Ministry of Information).

A report prepared by the Ministry of Information on the amounts incumbent upon media stations mentioned that these amounts reached around LBP 1.6 billion at the end of 2009 whereas they were as high as LBP 2.6 billion at the end of 2006. Thus, these stations continue to work and operate and refrain from paying the fees despite the state adopting measures to facilitate payment. Although its resolution was issued 9 years ago, the state refrains from shutting down stations that abstain from payment, thus rendering its decisions merely symbolic.