“We are on schedule for the broadcasting licenses and the auction will take place by the end of August,” State Minister Nikos Pappas said on state broadcaster ERT.
Pappas spoke of Greek television as having a “sinful history” of corruption regarding television licenses and clientelism. He spoke of a dubious relationship of certain TV channels with the previous governments.
The state minister defended his position regarding the abolishing of the independent National Radio and Television Council and assuming the role of controller of licensing himself. He said that only four licenses will be given because the market cannot afford more and the range is not unlimited. He spoke of the management of a certain channel that has left its employees unpaid for months.
Pappas further said that the existing channels are not sustainable. He said that currently there are eight television stations and the “advertising pie” is not big enough to make them all sustainable. At the same time, he said, almost all of them have received illegal loans from banks and had suspicious relationships with the previous governments.
The purpose of the government is “to break the relationship between television stations, politicians and bankers,” Pappas said.
Regarding the relationship of the current government with the public broadcaster, Pappas said that, “the close embrace of governments with the public broadcaster is not something that has yielded positive results in the past.” He also said that it is not good to have the public broadcaster administration change every time a new government comes to power, and that there should be continuation of the public broadcaster’s work.
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