Armenia's parliament is due today to vote on a bill that would impose severe restrictions on foreign broadcast media.
Under the draft law, Armenian broadcasters would have to pay the equivalent of $280 in taxes for each aired program made by a foreign media organization.
This is 70 times more than broadcasters must pay for a locally made program.
The bill would also bar all media outlets from broadcasting on frequencies used by the state-controlled Public Television and Radio Company.
In neighboring Azerbaijan, the national independent TV and radio channel, ANS, was barred from airing foreign broadcasts from the beginning of this year after authorities said it lacked the proper licenses.
ANS, previously an RFE/RL affiliate on FM, had also aired programs of the BBC and Voice of America.
Copyright (c) 2006. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
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