CNN has been broadcasting advertisements about Armenia since September 2006. According to the Deputy Minister of Trade and Economic Development of Armenia Ara Petrosyan, the clips intend to present Armenia and spread the word about tourism in Armenia. Each broadcast costs nearly 1000 dollars. There is an agreement with CNN to broadcast those clips 400 times and Armenia must pay nearly 360,000 dollars. CNN has offered the Armenian side that the experts at CNN prepare the clips in order to provide good quality. According to the deputy minister, CNN had demanded the same price for broadcasting as for preparing the clips. The Armenian side didn’t agree with that and decided that Armenian experts would prepare the clips. A contest was declared and the “ARMENIA” and “H2” television networks won; each network has prepared two half a minute and one minute clip. CNN has accepted the work completed by the Armenian television networks and they are currently being broadcasted. Approximately 10,000 dollars has been paid for the preparation of one clip. So, the preparation of the four clips and the broadcast on CNN has cost nearly 400,000 dollars.
