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© Velko Angelov
Nikolay Barekov sent the signal to the specialized prosecutor’s office shortly after his transfer to Eurocom was stopped.
Ten months after former TV presenter Nikolai Barekov filed a complaint with the prosecution about how Eurocom TV is financed, the media received two letters from the State National Security Agency (SANS) and the National Revenue Agency (NRA) to end of september. requesting information about the advertisers of three programs. These are the external productions: “Euro DikoF” with presenter Sasho Dikov, “Honestly” with Luba Kulezic and “Weekly with Bereanu” with presenter Vlado Bereanu.
The show hosts announced the action. There is no official information from the prosecutor’s office and confirmation that they are working on the Barekov signal. There is no answer to the question why the state prosecution has been initiated at this time.
The signal was given in January by Nikolay Barekov shortly after television stopped broadcasting the show, which he hosted together with former NFSB deputy Dimitar Bayraktarov. In it, he stated that television was financed through 200 affiliated companies, and the scheme was similar to that of the bankrupt CCB Bank. According to the television workers, Barekov’s broadcast, for which he paid for the television broadcast, was stopped when he became an incorrect payer. Shortly after, he filed a complaint with the Prosecutor’s Office.
Who are the advertisers and how much do they pay?
Eurocom has received letters from SANS and the NRA. In the letter from the National Agency, signed by its Vice President Nedyalko Nedyalkov, Information is required for advertising companies and co-contractors under pre-election advertising contracts for the 2019 local elections.. SANS has demanded the amount of the contracts and the form of payment. The SANS letter was sent on September 23 of this year. It says that the requested information is related to a tax inspection this year.
A reference on the website of the specialized prosecutor’s office shows that the materials of another body are expected to be resolved. The last outgoing document is a letterhead addressed to SANS, Sofia. The date is September 28.
In the letter from the NRA, which was sent on October 12, Information is requested on which advertisements are broadcast in each of the three programs, who the advertiser is: name, contract and date, amount of advertising revenue, payment of advertisements, invoice and date. The period for which the information is requested is January 2018 – December 31, 2019. The ANR is asked if in the same period and for the same productions there are commercials, sponsorships and alternative forms of advertising in the producers’ programs , provided by the producers or received for the show, broadcast on the show itself or on other television shows, but agreed to for the shows. of producers.
They ask the agency for a report showing which ads aired on each show, who the advertiser was, the amount of ad revenue, payment invoices, and how the ad revenue was distributed between the producer and the artist.
© Velko Angelov
Sasho Dikov believes that the inspection is aimed at hitting television.
The letter from the National Revenue Agency also requests verification of several other external productions: “Traveling Chitalishte”, “Fashion Fiesta”, “Interesting with Slavcho Toshev”, “The key to success” and “Coco’s spy”, which supposedly they are paid in the form of product positioning and / or 2 minutes of advertising per broadcast, so a detailed reference to the ads broadcast in each program, advertisers and revenue amounts is also requested from the ANR.
The NRA officially declined to comment on the matter. Unofficially, the agency told Dnevnik that they are working on a signal about how television is financed and how, according to internal media rules,% of advertising goes to the salaries of presenters. According to them, there was also data on financing through offshore companies.
The prosecutor’s office and SANS did not respond to Dnevnik’s calls. Written questions were sent to both institutions.
“There are standard procedures within the inspection. This is not the NRA’s first letter on this inspection. But why are they asking the NRA for information about specific shows and their advertisers? These shows and their hosts are associated with a form. Keen-minded, with an awkward environment, he asks those in power. These journalists are a corrective of power, they are not anti-GERB or anti-someone else. They ask questions about the misuse of public resources. And they will be inconvenient for anyone who abuses in that way, “Petyo Staykov, representative of the coach Zlati Zlatev and who deals with operational activity on television, told” Dnevnik “.
According to him, the reason for receiving these letters is now a matter for the relevant institutions that carry out the inspection. his interpretation is that this is a form of pressure Freedom of expression.
“The media are financed in different ways. We collect money from the advertising that is broadcast on each program, in accordance with the radio and television law. None of our productions is related to specific advertising. “Dubai, Belgrade or Russia have no ground. There is nothing to worry about the signal against us. All this search for ‘beef calf’ is pointless. Someone is interested in the specific advertiser, probably to go after this advertiser Staykov explained.
According to him, the inspection started at the beginning of the year and since then they have provided the ANR with various information and data.
And a hand torn brochure
The SANS letter was accompanied by a hand-torn brochure from an unknown store. On the one hand you can see bras and pants, which are priced, and on the other hand it shows a compact rack and its price. You can only see that the products will be available from August 3. The torn brochure was in the letter from the agency itself, which was folded in two. The television sent a letter asking what this meant for the agency, but there was no response for three weeks.
Nothing new under the sun: the goal is to get to the TV
“I have no other explanation that this is some kind of harassment. There is nothing unnatural about the NRA asking for TV advertising contracts, but they ask which advertisers are advertising because of these shows. What do they care? transparent”. Sasho Dikov, who is the host of Euro DikoF, told Dnevnik.
He explained that under his contract he was forced to prepare a weekly transmission of two hours, for which he received the corresponding amount of money, which was transferred by bank transfer. “I am not getting any other financing.”
“The objective is to reach television, there is hardly a specific program to carry out this verification. Anyone who feels affected by what we do can call us – the right of reply or the responsibility. But they are looking to hit television. and its financing ”, the presenter also thinks.
Remember that Something similar happened with BIT TV, in which he and Luba Kulezic had programs. “They tried to pressure the owner (note: Pavel Valnev, who lives in Chicago), but he did not have any business in Bulgaria and they failed under this scheme. Then they took out the money bags and he, the man, saw that there was no reason to. television in Bulgaria and decided to give up this effort, which anyway brought him only negatives, “says Dikov.
BIT was sold in early 2018, more than two years after the start of the project, to Chicago-based Bulgarian Pavel Valnev and his brother Rumen. Veselin Ivanov, who is currently a media adviser to Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev, was appointed television manager. Shortly after the sale, the television stopped broadcasting. Pavel Valnev became vice president of the party of former GERB vice president Tsvetan Tsvetanov.
Everything is going through protests
I don’t want to sound paranoid, but it all happens amidst the protests. Television and our programs have taken a clear position: we cover the protests, we join them live, “The Poison Trio” is a product of some of these shows, we also cover the action around the “Fighter” association, he commented. to “Dnevnik”, the host of “Honestly” Luba Kulezic.
