Greece

[GR] Reorganisation Plan for the Greek Public Service Broadcaster Announced

IRIS 2011-10:1/23

Alexandros Economou

National Council for Radio and Television

On 19 August 2011, the Minister of State, government spokesman and government member responsible for media regulation Elias Mosialos announced the restructuring of the Greek public service broadcaster, ERT. The measures announced include closing ET1, the oldest television station of ERT, and the digital channels Cine Plus and Sport Plus. Nineteen regional radio stations will be merged into nine, now centrally administered, while fifteen out of the twenty medium-wave transmitters will be closed. The reorganisation plan also includes the abolition of the Hellenic Audiovisual Institute, the national applied research organisation in the field of audiovisual communication, and of the Hellenic National Audiovisual Archive. The remit of these two organisations will be transferred to ERT.

According to Mr Mosialos, the reforms also aim at establishing a public service broadcaster that operates in a transparent manner and that is “not politicised”. An independent committee, composed of distinguished jurists, economists and journalists was formed on 11 October 2011 in order to clarify the role of public radio and television and indicate how the public company could take advantage of the licence fee that every citizen pays through the bill for electricity consumption. This committee will be aided by specialists on public service broadcasting in France, Germany, Sweden and the UK.

So far no legislative or other regulatory texts have been presented in implementation of these propositions, which have caused much reaction from the Greek political parties and the professional associations of the public broadcaster.