The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has taken a number of steps to assist the Greek public broadcaster ERT, which was suddenly closed earlier this week, with all its 2,700 staff being made redundant.
Firstly, it has managed to get ERT back on air, using the EBU’s Athens earth station to transmit the broadcaster’s news channel NET.
The signal is also being made available globally on Hotbird 13A in Europe, APSTAR 7 in Asia, Intelsat 19 and Optus D2 in Oceana.
Secondly, the EBU president Jean-Paul Philipott has written to José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, demanding that the EC takes a “clear stand to defend European values.”
He added: “We understand that it is up to the Member States concerned to choose concrete restructuring measures with regard to their public sector.
“However it is our unfortunate experience that the existence of public service broadcasting has come under systematic threat in countries which have been pressed by the European Union or the troika to make savings.”
Thirdly, 50 director generals of public media have signed a petition demanding that ERT is put back on air.
The EBU has sent the letter to the Greek government and in a second letter urged the prime minister Antonis Samaras to revoke the closure decree and at the same time appealed for at least one ERT TV channel to be on air.
