Despite calls to eliminate fees for using the State-owned media for election campaigning, the caretaker government has approved new rates for the Bulgarian National Television, BNT, and the Bulgarian National Radio, BNR.

The campaign's official start is April 12. It will conclude with "reflection day" on May 11.

Registered parties, initiative committees, and independent candidates will not only have to pay for their appearance on BNT and BNR, but the fees have been upped despite the calls to eliminate them and despite the economic crisis, the Open Parliament blog informs.

Radio and TV campaign reporting is fully paid as well.

On BNT, the campaigning begins with introduction video clips and there are concluding ones at the end. Their price per minute increased by 17% - from BGN 1 200 per minute to BGN 1 400 per minute.

BNT also uses rates for airing these clips that vary according to the time slot, and they have changed as well.

Airing them during the workweek is down by 0.6% - from BGN 1066 in 2011 to BGN 1060 in 2013, however the weekend rate is up from BGN 967 to BGN 1 125, which is a 16% hike.

The price per minute for debates also went up 20% during the workweek (from BGN 150 to BGN 180) and 11% during the weekend (from BGN 180 to BGN 200).

BNR has upped rates for all forms of campaign reporting. The price for a feature is up 150% - from BGN 120 per minute to BGN 300 per minute; the one for debates is up 100% - from BGN 35 to BGN 70.

The airing of an up to 30 seconds clip on BNR will cost BGN 130 and BGN 190, depending on the time slot, while in 2011 there has been a fixed price of BGN 90.

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