ANKARA, Turkey — In a significant decision, Turkey's Constitutional Court has directed the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) to immediately conduct an auction for radio broadcasting frequencies, addressing a failure that has persisted for 30 years and impacted the licensing of broadcasters. This ruling comes in response to a petition by six radio companies, who argued that the absence of a frequency allocation auction violated their freedom of expression by not allowing them to broadcast.
Published today in the Official Gazette, the decision emphasizes that the lack of new frequency allocations has resulted in unfair conditions for both new and existing broadcasters. Citing the "Good News" decision, the court reiterated that its previous orders had not been implemented by RTÜK, highlighting that the directives are binding for the council.
The regulation in question dates back to 1995, under the RTÜK Law, which mandates that broadcasting frequencies should be allocated through an auction. Temporary permits were granted to stations broadcasting up to that point, but new broadcasters were required to wait for frequencies to become available through an auction. Despite multiple attempts, the auctions have not been conducted due to various reasons, leading to significant financial losses estimated in the billions of dollars. Currently, there are no developments regarding the scheduling of the long-awaited frequency allocation auction.
