The Armenian TV channels have great expectations from spring because the parliamentary election is scheduled this spring, which means the political forces will not be sparing money, of course if they have it, to appear on TV and be seen and heard by voters. And it means that before the voters make a choice the political parties will have to make a choice of the TV channel for their political advertisement. The first measurement for this choice will be the prices.

In this sense, there is considerable variety on air. The price of one minute of political advertisement starts at 80 thousand drams. The lowest price (including the VAT) is offered by the Public Television. The prices offered by the private channels start at 100 thousand drams. This is the price offered by AR TV and Yerkir Media. On Kentron, H2 and Shant one minute costs 108 thousand drams. ALM will charge 120 thousand drams per minute of political advertisement. Airtime on Armenia TV is the most expensive. In addition, only H1, H2, Armenia and ALM are broadcast all over the country. Shant is broadcast in half of the territory but includes two major regions by the number of population, the Ararat valley and the region of Shirak. The main audience of the other TV channels is the Ararat valley.

The political forces have to make a choice. The majority of the opposition stated that the prices offered by the TV channels are too high, even the tariff offered by the Public Channel, which is the lowest, aroused dissatisfaction among the opposition parties. They state that opportunities are not equal, and the government forces can afford to appear on TV channels because they have a lot of money. The government forces retort: like the opposition, they also have to pay the prices set by TV companies.

Formally they will. The price is the same for everyone. It is necessary to take into account that the owners of most TV companies are involved in the process to some degree, however. Kentron TV is owned by the leader of the Bargavach Hayastan Party Gagik Tsarukyan. AR TV belongs to the head of Grand Holding Hrant Vardanyan, said to be likely to nominate candidates on different party tickets, namely the ARF Dashnaktsutyun, the Republican Party and even the Bargavach Hayastan Party, like in 2003. Yerkir Media is in the ARF Dashnaktsutyun’s disposition. The head of ALM Tigran Karapetyan will run for parliament with his political party. In other words, it is possible that these owners will use their TV channels for their political aims. In some sense, this is normal but creates unequal opportunities for the political forces. None of the owners of TV companies is oppositionist or cooperates with any oppositionist force. It is possible, of course, that 120 minutes of air provided by the law will be sold equally and fairly. However, the government evidently gains advantages by having loyal TV channels.