The Association for Commercial Television says Greek legislation on free-to-air content licensing and the establishment of state-controlled ERT subsidiary to offer commercial multiplexing and DTT network services, will be fundamentally incompatible with EU legal framework.
On Saturday the Greek parliament has voted in a series of reforms for the country’s commercial television sector.
For the first time there will be a licensing system for private television channels; the new law calls for a ten-year licensing term that would commence with a new auction process. The left-leaning government will include companies in tax arrears and those with contracts in the public sector, a move designed to stop companies putting pressure on government within their newscasts.
A new subsidiary of the resurrected public broadcaster ERT, named ERT-Net, would be set-up to provide network and multiplex services to the country’s DTT platform.
In a statement, the ACT said: “in the absence of rigorous functional separation and transparent cost accounting as between the public service and commercial units of ERT – will openly infringe the European state aid rules. The ACT is aware that the Commission sent a letter to the Greek State requiring more information on the ERT-Net concept, and intends to closely follow the developments in this connection.”
Local media groups, already at odds with prime minister Alexis Tsipras’ economic policy have called the legislation “unrealistic”.
