Tregu i medias audiovizive në Shqipëri shënoi një rritje të mëtejshme të shkallës së përqendrimit, me katër televizionet më të mëdha, Klan, Top Channel, Vizion Plus dhe A2CNN që kontrolluan 81% të të gjitha të ardhurave si dhe konsoliduan fitimet, ndërkohë që tetë televizione të tjera të analizuara mbyllën vitin me humbje të konsiderueshme financiare.
Të dhënat financiare të kompanive mediatike, të publikuara në Qendrën Kombëtare të Biznesit dhe të analizuara nga BIRN, tregojnë se të ardhurat totale të tregut shënuan një rënie të lehtë prej 0.3% në vitin 2024 kundrejt vitit 2023, rënie që duket se lidhet me faktin që tregu televiziv pëson rritje zakonisht në vite zgjedhore dhe rënie në vite kur në Shqipëri nuk ka as zgjedhje parlamentare dhe as zgjedhje për pushtetin vendor.
Të ardhurat totale të televizioneve ishin 6.57 miliardë lekë vitin e kaluar nga 6.59 miliardë që ishin në vitin 2022.
BIRN analizoi të dhënat financiare të televizioneve komerciale pa pagesë, të cilat i sigurojnë të ardhurat në pjesën më të madhe përmes shitjes së reklamave, si dhe veçmas, të dhënat financiare të platformave televizive me pagesë, Digitalb, ADTN dhe Tring. Nga 12 televizionet e analizuara, Top Channel, Klan, Media Vizion, Report TV, News 24, ABC, Ora, Scan, A2CNN, Euronews, MCN dhe Syri, Syri dhe Ora News nuk kanë depozituar ende bilancet në QKB deri në publikimin e këtij shkrimi. Gjithashtu, raporti vjetor i Televizionit Publik Shqiptar, i cili jeton falë pagesave të qytetarëve në formën e një takse mbi televizorin dhe nga transfertat nga buxheti i shtetit, nuk është depozituar në Kuvendin e Shqipërisë, siç duhet të depozitohet çdo vit.
Loja mes të mëdhenjve
Standardet ndërkombëtare sugjerojnë se matja e shkallës së përqendrimit të medias në një vend duhet të marrë parasysh pjesën e tregut të zotëruar nga 4 mediat kryesore. Nëse kjo pjesë tregu është mbi 49%, përqendrimi i tregut konsiderohet “i lartë”. Në rastin e Shqipërisë në fakt nuk janë katër, por dy televizione të mëdha, Klan dhe Top Channel, të cilat bashkërisht kontrollojnë më shumë se sa 49%. Gjatë vitit të kaluar, Klan dhe Top Channel patën së bashku 64% të të gjitha të ardhurave të televizioneve pa pagesë, ndërsa televizioni i tretë më i madh, Vizion Plus, kishte 9.9% të tregut dhe i katërti, A2CNN, 6.8%.
Kontrolli i tregut të televizioneve nga dy operatorët e mëdhenj është tashmë realiteti prej shumë kohësh. Top Channel ishte televizioni më i madh deri në vitin 2020, pastaj Klani ia kaloi dhe, gjatë vitit të kaluar, të ardhurat e Top Channel u rritën ndërsa ato të Klan ranë përkundrejt vitit 2023, por renditja nuk ndryshoi.
Vizion Plus has maintained third place, far behind the big two, for several years, while A2CNN is the only media outlet to have entered the big four in recent years. News 24 was the media outlet that lost market share and fell out of the big four in recent years.
Four with profits, the rest with losses
The balance sheet data also shows that only four of the 12 television stations in the country analyzed have filed a balance sheet with a positive financial result, while six others have made losses and two have not filed a balance sheet. Klan is the most profitable television station in the country with a positive result of 254 million lek for 2024, while Top Channel follows with net profits of 109 million lek. Media Vizion had 18 million lek in profits, while A2CNN had a modest profit of 4.2 million lek.
Euronews was the media that ended the year with the highest losses of all, 139 million lek, followed by Focus Media, which operates the News 24 television station, with 136 million. Multiscreen, the company that operates the Report TV channel, had a loss of 22 million lek, but this company also provides income from dividends from other companies under its ownership, companies that do not operate in the field of audiovisual media. ABC News and SCAN also closed the financial year with significant losses, while their market shares fell or remained in the single digits. MCN was the smallest television station of the ten companies that filed balance sheets, and the company closed the year with a loss of 4.4 million lek.
Lack of diversity
The European Union and the OSCE/ODIHR have expressed serious concerns about the lack of diversity in the media that should inform Albanians on issues of public interest, a key aspect of democratic countries. In its preliminary report on the 11 May 2025 elections, the OSCE/ODIHR observation mission highlighted, as part of the lack of free and fair elections, concerns that the diversity and integrity of the news broadcasts were undermined by “non-transparent financing, concentration of ownership, interference with editorial autonomy and political influence”.
While the European Union has emphasized in its key document of Albania's accession negotiations, it requires a comprehensive reform of the legal and regulatory framework.
The lack of diversity of information is argued to undermine the ability of citizens to vote in an informed manner, which undermines the very foundation of democracy. But in the case of Albania, the concern is not only the fact that a few television stations control the majority of the market, but also the fact that most of the political information broadcast is not produced by the media or journalists, but is produced by political parties or public institutions, while the media, small or large, simply become propaganda mouthpieces. In short, despite the fact that the country has over a dozen television stations, wherever a citizen stops to follow the news, he is likely to see the same chronicles prepared in advance by institutions, for example, the Agency for Media and Information of Prime Minister Edi Rama. The existence of online media in theory helps to somewhat mitigate the dominance of the information environment by television stations, but not much, because the main social media such as Facebook and Instagram seem to be dominated by subjects that are able to produce more content, namely the government.
RTSH without annual report
The Albanian public radio and television is theoretically the second largest television in the country. In a typical year, the budget of this institution amounts to over 20 million euros, a figure slightly lower than that of Klan television, which is the largest commercial media with revenues, last year, of nearly 23 million euros. The annual report of RTSH, which is deposited and debated in the Albanian Parliament during the first months of the year, has not been deposited for 2024, making it impossible to provide information on the financial situation of this institution. The data of the deposited report for 2023 show that RTSH had expenses of 2.1 billion lek. Of these, about 1.3 billion lek were from specific taxes that families pay through the electricity supply contract, while 618 million were financing from the state budget.
Improvement in the pay television market
The revenues of pay-TV platforms Digitalb and Tring increased last year, the first time this market has grown at least since 2016, when BIRN began analyzing this market. There are three licensed companies in the country in this segment: Digitalb, Tring and ADTN, the latter a company that holds a broadcasting license serving Digitalb. The revenues of the three were just over 5 billion lek last year, with a 12% increase compared to 2023. Tring is the small operator that took 30% of the market last year, but it is also the operator that has maintained a slightly positive financial result in recent years. Digitalb is the large operator with 70% of the market, but has been losing money for years. Digitalb's losses were nevertheless reduced from 650 million lek in 2023 to 103 million last year.
All three market segments, free television financed by advertising, pay television and RTSH, have an annual turnover of 13.6 billion lek, if we assume that RTSH's revenues have not changed much compared to 2023./Reporter.al
