By-Law on The Principles and Procedures Relating to The Implementation of Multiple Partnerships with Media Service Providers
16 December 2011 Friday Official Gazette No. 28144
BY-LAW ON THE PRİNCİPLES AND PROCEDURES RELATİNG TO THE İMPLEMENTATİON OF MULTIPLE PARTNERSHİPS WİTH MEDİA SERVİCE PROVİDERS
CHAPTER ONE
Purpose, Scope, Statuary Basis and Definitions
Purpose
ARTICLE 1 – (1) This By-Law has been prepared in order to determine the procedures and principles relating to the implementation of the limitations in establishing a partnership with more than one media service provider enterprise as stated in subparagraph (d) of paragraph 1 of Article 19 of the Law No. 6112 dated 15/02/2011 on the Establishment of Radio and Television Enterprises and Their Media Services that aims at guaranteeing pluralism and preventing concentration in the field of media.
Scope
ARTICLE 2 – (1) This By-Law covers the media service providers under the jurisdiction of the State of the Republic of Turkey in the framework of Article 2 of the Law No. 6112.
Statuary Basis
ARTICLE 3 – (1) This By-Law has been prepared in accordance with the subparagraph (d) of paragraph 1 of Article 19 and Article 37 of the Law No. 6112.
Definitions
ARTICLE 4 – (1) For the implementation of this by-law:
a) ‘A direct partner’ means a real or a legal person’s state of being directly as a shareholder in a media service provider enterprise without any intermediation of a legal person;
b) ‘An indirect partner’ means a real or a legal person’s state of being as a partner to a media service provider enterprise through the intermediation of a legal person who holds a share in it;
c) ‘A media service provider with the terrestrial broadcasting license’ stands for an enterprise which has got a license to provide a radio and/or a television broadcast service through a terrestrial network;
ç) ‘The total annual commercial communication revenue of the sector’ means the total gross commercial communication revenues of the whole media service providers in a fiscal year which are under the jurisdiction of the State of the Republic of Turkey and have got their licenses from the Supreme Council;
d) ‘The Supreme Council’ means the Radio and Television Supreme Council;
e) ‘A foreign real person’ stands for the real persons owning the citizenship of foreign countries;
f) ‘A foreign legal person’ stands for the legal persons established in accordance with the laws of the foreign countries and international establishments;
g) ‘The annual total revenue of commercial communications’ means the gross total revenue of a media service provider that it has obtained in return to its broadcasts of commercials, teleshopping, programme sponsorships, including other broadcasts of commercial communications.
CHAPTER TWO
Ascertainment of Partnership
Ascertainment of Partnership
ARTICLE 5 – (1) For ascertaining an indirect partnership of a real or legal person in a media service provider enterprise, any legal person who has a share in the media service provider enterprise or is about to take over a share in it and, if exists, the structure of partnership of that persons’ partnerships with the legal persons shall be examined in a chain order, if necessary, till reached to his/her partnership with real persons.
(2) (Additional: OG 10/1/2013-28524) However, partnership determination shall not be actualized for the direct or indirect legal partners who possess a share of 5% or below and who are not the member of the board of executives or do not have the privilege to define the board of the executives of the media service provider enterprise.
(3) For a real person, the shares belonging to his/her spouse and relatives by blood or marriage up to and including those of the third degree shall be deemed as belonging to that person. If a real person’s spouse and his/her relatives by blood or marriage up to and including those of the third degree have a share in any of the media service provider enterprise, that real person in partnership with media service provider enterprises shall declare this kinship to the Supreme Council. The Supreme Council shall carry out an investigation or have it carried out on its own account.
Multiple partnerships to media service providers
ARTICLE 6 – (1) The number of direct or indirect partnerships of a real or legal person to the media service providers with the terrestrial broadcasting license shall not be more than four.
(2) The number of direct partnerships of a foreign real or legal person to the media service providers with the terrestrial broadcasting license shall not be more than two. This limitation shall be implemented by disregarding whatever its network and license type is.
(3) The number of partnerships of a foreign real or legal person including indirect partnerships to the media service providers with the terrestrial broadcasting license shall not be more than four.
(4) During the evaluation of the license applications of the enterprises and, the demands and transactions of the media service providers that cause amendments in their structure of partnerships such as the share transfers, mergers and takeovers, a scrutiny shall be carried out in terms of appropriateness with the statements of this Article. The demands of the enterprises whose cases have been found appropriate or corrected in line with the warnings of the Supreme Council shall be granted. Otherwise, the procedures in accordance with the Law No. 6112 are followed by evaluating these enterprises in the framework of the enterprises who has not fulfilled their obligations and have lost their licensing conditions.
Ascertainment of the total annual commercial communication revenues
ARTICLE 7 – (1) While ascertaining the total annual commercial communication revenues of a media service provider enterprise, the commercial communication revenues to be declared in accordance with the provisions of the By-Law published in the Official Gazette dated 26/08/2011 with No. 28037 on the Principles and Procedures relating to the Monitoring of the Commercial Communication Revenues obtained by the Media Service Providers and their Declarations and Payments of the Shares of the Supreme Council to be Made over these Revenues shall be taken into consideration. The total annual gross commercial communication revenue shall be ascertained by calculating the monthly gross commercial communication revenues of the enterprises that they declare in accordance with the months in a calendar year.
Ascertainment of the total annual commercial communication revenues of the Sector
ARTICLE 8 – (1) By calculating the total annual gross commercial communication revenues ascertained in accordance with Article 7 of this By-Law of all the media service providers that are under the jurisdiction of the State of the Republic of Turkey and have taken licenses from the Supreme Council, the total annual commercial communication revenues of the sector shall be ascertained.
(2) The total annual commercial communication revenue of the sector shall be published in the Supreme Council’s web-site until the end of the month March following of the calendar year to which it belonged.
Evaluation to be made by the Supreme Council
ARTICLE 9 – (1) The Supreme Council shall evaluate the revenue cases of each media service provider enterprise in terms of its appropriateness until the end of the month April each year following the Supreme Council’s declaration of the total annual commercial communication of the sector.
(2) Apart from this, the Supreme Council shall make its evaluation about the providers’ demands of broadcasting licenses, transfer of shares, mergers and takeovers as based on not the present year’s total annual commercial communication revenue of the sector but, the previous year’s as a basis.
(3) In accordance with this Article, If ascertained as a result of an evaluation by the Supreme Council that any real or legal person is a direct or indirect partner to more than one media service provider enterprise, and the total annual gross commercial communication revenues of the enterprises to which that person is partner exceeds over 30 percent of the total commercial communication revenue of the sector, the Supreme Council shall give a notice to that person and allow for 90 days to transfer his/her shares.
Implementation of Administrative Fines
ARTICLE 10 – (1) The Supreme Council shall impose an administrative fine according to subparagraph (d) of the paragraph 1 of Article 19 of the Law No. 6112 to any real or legal person who has not transferred its share in spite of the notice in an allowed period in accordance with Article 9.
CHAPTER THREE
Miscellaneous and Final Provisions
Provision on the Transition Process
PROVISIONAL ARTICLE 1 – (1) This By-Law is applied also to the media service providers broadcasting via terrestrial networks in accordance with the Provisional Article 4 of the Law No. 6112.
Entry into force
ARTICLE 11 – (1) This By-Law shall come into effect on the date of its publication.
Implementation
ARTICLE 12 – (1) The provisions of this By-Law shall be implemented by the Radio and Television Supreme Council.