Greece

[GR] Call for Applications to Operate a Nationwide Television Service

IRIS 1998-6:1/21

Hellenic Audiovisual Institute - I.O.M. Athens

European Audiovisual Observatory

The Official Journal of 27 February contained a call for applications for the allocation of six authorisations to operate a nationwide television service, setting out the conditions to be met for such an authorisation to be awarded.

Applicants must be legal entities (local authority undertakings, commercial companies, associations, etc). The application file must be submitted to the Minister for the Press and the Mass Media, together with payment of the sum of five million drachmas to the Greek State. Applicants must include documents enabling the Minister to check compliance with legislative provisions for awarding an authorisation. Thus the application must include items identifying the applicant (status, names of shareholders and level of holdings in the company's capital, names of directors and managers of the company, etc). In the case of a limited company, company capital may not be less than a thousand million drachmas. Details must also be given of technical broadcasting characteristics. Lastly, the application must include items enabling the regulatory body (the national radio and television council - NRTC) to evaluate the application according to an assessment system covered by Act 2328/1995 (points system). According to this Act, the NRTC's opinion must take account of certain specific criteria, including the duration of operation of the channel (only applies to channels already holding an authorisation), number of staff employed by the applicant, actual investments made by the company, the quality of equipment set up, and the programming proposed by the channel. Candidates had to submit their applications by 20 March 1998. The technical report was forwarded to the Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications responsible for certifying the channel's technical details, while the Ministry of the Press and the Mass Media looks into compliance with the legislative provisions before forwarding its certificate to the NRTC. The NRTC assesses the applications according to a points system and draws up a list of candidates according to the criteria listed. On the basis of this assessment, the Ministry of the Press and the Mass Media will then issue the authorisations, the text of which will be published in the Official Journal, indicating in each case the frequency the holder of the authorisation is entitled to use. The allocation of frequencies will be decided jointly by the two ministries.