The Polish parliament (Sejm) has passed a new media law.
The legislation, which still needs to be approved by the European Commission before reaching the statute book, will see a number of far-reaching changes in the country’s TV industry.
The most important of these will be the scrapping of receiver licence fees in 2010, along with the restructuring of both the National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT), one of the two regulatory bodies, and the public broadcaster TVP’s regional operations.
In the place of fees will come a programme licensing scheme and the guarantee of around PLN900 million (€205.8 million) of state funding a year for TVP and its radio counterpart.
