Under the present arrangement, the two-month deadline has been extended to late September at the earliest, when a new government is expected to be in place. This would provide an advantage in that, by then, if elections take place the political situation would be much clearer. In this way, stations which are tied to specific politicians may be allowed to remain on or taken off the air depending on the fate of the politicians in the parliamentary elections.
Major public figures have for some time been buying shares in television and radio stations. For example, figures released by the Lebanese Broadcasting Company (LBC), Lebanon's leading television station, showed that among the new share holders in the company were the deputy Suleiman Franjiyyeh, the financier and possible parliamentary candidate `Isam Farès, the deputy Nabil Boustany, and the businessman George Frem.[9]
According to the draft election law sent to parliament on June 24, a paragraph in the previous 1960 law barring campaigning in the audio-visual media has been canceled. If parliament approves the cancellation, this will allow candidates to use the media for the first time in Lebanese parliamentary elections. It will also give a decided advantage to candidates who have access to television or radio.
Implementation of the law will probably mean that several opposition stations will be closed down. However, new political alignments may give some stations a new lease of life. For example, one of the last bastions of the opposition, New Television (NTV), whose news division is run by the communist party, may remain on the air because of a recent reconciliation between the former parliament speaker, Husayn al-Husayni, and President Hrawi. Both are leading Biqa` politicians, and may have determined that it is in their advantage to forge an electoral alliance against Hizballah. The beneficiary of this may well be NTV, which is owned by Mr. Husayni's friend, Tahsin Khayyat.
There remains room for government flexibility on the final number of stations which will be left on the air. It should be kept in mind that the report of the government-appointed technical commission, which specified that only six stations could be allowed to broadcast, is non-binding. The government may well decide that it is best to widen the number of stations allowed on the air - particularly those in which politicians have shares - to build up its political support after election time. Indeed, the real plum will go to whichever stations win satellite broadcasting rights. It is from there that the major advertising revenue will come.
Footnote:
9. See L'Orient-Express (Beirut), April 1996, pp. 66.