The Audiovisual Council held its first meeting in 2026, during which 3-hours broadcasting suspension imposed on 3 television and 1 radio channels, 2 new licenses were granted, 1 license was revoked

On January 09, 2026 the Audiovisual Council of the Republic of Azerbaijan held its first meeting of the year, during which a number of issues were discussed.

Firstly, the application submitted by "Azercell Telekom" LLC regarding the issuance of licenses for audiovisual media activities was reviewed. Based on the results of the review of the submitted documents and economic justification, as well as the results of the on-site inspection, the Audiovisual Council has approved the issuance of license of universal platform operator and license of on-demand media service provider to "Azercell Telekom" LLC under the service name "Kinon".

The meeting then proceeded with a discussion on the activities of "Neftchi TV" channel. It was noted that "Neftchi TV", operating under the license of platform broadcaster not performing satellite transmission, had failed to ensure continuous internet broadcasting over the past year. Despite several notifications and warnings issued by the Audiovisual Council, "Neftchi Media" LLC was unable to resume broadcasting and therefore appealed to the Council requesting the revocation of the relevant license. Taking into account the application submitted by the license holder, the Audiovisual Council revoked the license of "Neftchi Media" LLC for the "Neftchi TV" channel.

The meeting then reviewed cases of violations of advertising legislation that occurred on a number of television and radio channels at the end of last year. Following investigations conducted by the Audiovisual Council’s experts and responses from the relevant authorities, violations were confirmed. Based on the decisions unanimously made by the Council members, a 3-hour suspension of broadcasting has been imposed on the respective broadcasters:

• On November 14, 2025 the program "Alo, Doctor" broadcast on "Dunya TV" contained advertising that provided inaccurate information regarding the availability of some medical treatments as professionally offered exclusively at the advertised medical institution. This constituted a violation of the requirements of Article 6 of the Law "On Advertising". By the decision of the Audiovisual Council, the broadcasting of "Dunya TV" will be suspended for 3 hours from 21:00 to 24:00 on January 15, 2026.
• On November 27, 2025 the program "Chihish yolu" ("Way out") broadcast on the "MTV" channel, contained advertising that provided inaccurate information that all diseases could only be treated naturally at the advertised medical institution. This constituted a violation of the requirements of Article 6 of the Law "On Advertising". By the decision of the Audiovisual Council, the broadcasting of "MTV" television channel will be suspended for 3 hours from 15:00 to 18:00 on January 15, 2026.
• On December 03, 2025, the program "Radio Diagnoz" broadcast on "Space FM" contained advertising that falsely claimed a doctor to be No.1. This constituted a violation of the requirements of Article 6 of the Law "On Advertising". By the decision of the Audiovisual Council, the broadcasting of "Space FM" will be suspended for 3 hours from 18:00 to 21:00 on January 15, 2026.

Finally, the meeting discussed the program "Gel, danısh" ("Come and talk") broadcast on "Space TV" on December 25, 2025 focusing on the host’s (the presenter) statements. According to the opinion of the Council’s members, the host promoted discrimination based on origin during the broadcast, in violation of the requirements of Article 14.1.4 of the Law "On Media". Considering that "Space TV" had previously been warned last year for promoting discrimination, the Audiovisual Council has decided to suspend broadcast of "Space TV" for 3 hours, from 12:00 to 15:00 on January 14, 2026.