Poland would be unwise to follow the Hungarian model when it introduces limits on media concentration.
Speaking in a panel discussion at PIKE 2017 entitled Will antitrust laws strengthen pluralism and media competition in Poland?, Igor Ostrowski, a partner at Dentons Europe, pointed to the highly political nature of regulation in the country and in particular its regulator NMHH. He also stated his preference as being the model adopted in France.
Meanwhile, a former head of the competition authority UOKiK said that in Poland concentration only really existed in the local press. Moreover, what regulators should be looking at is the abuse of a dominant position in the economic sense.
It was also pointed out that from a historic perspective anti-trust laws were first introduced in the US by the FCC in the 1930s.
Broadband TV News notes that the whole issue of media ownership is currently a major talking point in the Polish industry, with the country set to introduce radical rules some have likened to those recently brought in in Russia.
In an early presentation at PIKE 2017, Witold Kolodziejski, the president of the National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT), referred to Discovery’s acquisition of Scripps, the owner of the Polish national commercial broadcaster TVN and said there is a now a problem with concentration.
He added that the KRRiT’s stance is no secret. There is an open discussion and like the Office of Electronic Communications (UKE) it believes that the best solution is self-regulation and compromise.
