Major blow for Discovery in Poland

Last Friday’s decision by Poland’s parliament (Sejm) to approve the so-called Lex TVN, thereby putting the presence of Discovery in the country in serious doubt, has met with strong opposition.

The decision, which overturned the Senate’s earlier veto of the legislation, now means that a final ruling now rests solely in the hands of Polish President Andrzej Duda. He will be required to take action by January 7.

In a statement following the vote, Discovery said: “The outcome of today’s surprise vote in the Polish parliament should alarm any enterprise investing in Poland and anyone who cares about democracy and freedom of the press. Through this vote, Poland undermines the values that have connected Poland with Europe and uproots the foundation of the Polish-American relationship. We now appeal to the President of the Republic of Poland, Andrzej Duda, to keep his word and veto this legislation”.

TVN has since set up online petition that as of this morning (December 20) has already received over 2.3 million signatures. Yesterday, there were also protests across the country.

Broadband TV News that ‘Lex TVN’ refers to amendments to the country’s Broadcast Law would require all licensed distributors of radio and TV services in Poland to be based in the European Economic Area (EEA) and not be dependent on anyone based outside the EEA.

This would impact TVN as although its owner Discovery is registered in the Netherlands as Polish Television Holding BV it is ultimately headquartered in the US.