Poland’s leading pay-TV operator Cyfrowy Polsat has strongly criticised a draft law related to receiver licences fees to fund public service media (PSM).
In a statement, it says it has long supported the idea of PSM being funded entirely by such fees, with them no longer being allowed to carry advertising.
However, the proposal that the incompetent organisations hitherto responsible for collecting fees should be replaced by a system in which personal data on pay-TV subscribers is passed to Polish Post is “incompatible with the constitional principal of equality of citizens before the law, and the disclosure of sensitive personal data on pay-TV customers violates their personal and consumer rights”.
The proposal has also been criticised by the Association of Electronic Media and Telecommunications Employers (Mediakom), which says that the definition of pay-TV is not made clear, leaving it open to interpretation and abuse. Significantly, the draft law does not cover smart TV and VOD operators whose headquarters are outside Poland.
Local reports say that Poland’s Ministry of Culture and National Heritage estimates that up to 2.8 million pay-TV subscribers would start to pay receiver licence fees following the implementaion of the proposed law.
