Within the post-Soviet developments, a particularly interesting region is the South Transcaucasian one. The South of the Caucasus includes Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and is geopolitically a very interesting area. These three countries do not only share a common history, but have also followed a similar evolutionary path when it comes to media development.

A comparative analysis of these three countries is conducted in this IRIS Extra, with a wide set of references by Ekaterina Abashina. After detailing the context with some historical notes on their respective media markets and regulatory frameworks, the author discusses the statute of the governing bodies, the financing of PSB, and the appointment procedures of Board members. She
then analyses their programming policies and their adaptation to the requirements set by the international organisations of which they are members. Each country is examined individually, with systematic cross-references and a comparative overview of similarities and differences between the three systems.

It might be too early to conclude that there is a South-Transcaucasian PSB model. Nonetheless, it is clearly apparent that recommendations of and assessments by international organisations have been particularly influential in the development of public service broadcasting in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. In this regard, the analysis presented by Abashina is a very helpful tool for navigating their quite complex regulatory frameworks.

The full report can be found here: http://www.obs.coe.int/documents/205595/8441495/IRIS+Extra+2016en2.pdf/c0ad7394-0c08-4731-b29a-b2b9b4774a2e