A Net With a Hole

The Association of Serbia's Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) broadcast its pilot project to about two million viewers in Serbia and Montenegro on Thursday, April 16. ANEM is largely based on Belgrade's B92 radio, including 16 local television stations and 30 radio stations in Yugoslavia. They have all joined forces and started joint broadcasts, which could have long-term effects on media in Serbia.

The one-and-a-half hour broadcast largely consists of series such as the Cosby Show and sports events, but ANEM's managing director and the editor-in-chief of B92, Veran Matic, is apparently very ambitious about expanding it.

"We are creating space for news and political broadcasts in the future. We have based our radio network on news and our television on leisure because the people have a different approach to these two media. The primary objective of the project is to have a healthy economic platform and thus create the conditions for phase two. The network will later broadcast programs such as "VIN" by Zoran Ostojic, Lila Radonjic's "TV Net" and B92 movies. We also want to open a news studio in Belgrade", Matic told Vreme. He said the studio would be made up of educated young people, trained to match the highest international standards. "That is a still distant future. Phase one will last at least a year", Matic said. Tapes with ANEM's broadcasts are being transported and distributed all over Yugoslavia by car twice a week. This problem will be resolved soon, as the television network will be linked by satellite in a few months.