Polish Government Wants to Give TVP channels Top Positions with Operators by Law
The channels of Telewizja Polska, covered by the must-carry/must-offer rule, are to be in the first places among TV operators. Such provisions were included in the draft law, which can be dealt with by the Sejm today. “The government hits the private media before the elections through the back door,” warns the Lewiatan Confederation.
The Lewiatan Confederation announced that the draft Act, Provisions introducing the Electronic Communications Act, adopted by the government and submitted to the Sejm, “includes an extensive proposal for changes to the Broadcasting Act, which is of great importance for media pluralism.” According to information from “Presserwis,” it is possible that even today, the Sejm will start working on the bill in committee.
Increase in operating costs
The must-carry/must-offer principle – as we informed you – is to cover not only TVP 1, TVP 2, and TVP 3, but also TVP Info and TVP Kultura. It will no longer cover TVN, Polsat, TV 4, and TV Puls. Pursuant to the draft act, the TVP channels mentioned are to be “placed in the order of programs in the electronic program guide in positions 1 to 5”. The following order was also indicated: TVP 1, TVP 2, TVP 3 (version appropriate for a given area), TVP Info, and TVP Kultura.
“Currently, satellite platforms must provide only one version of the TVP 3 channel. After the change in regulations, they will have to provide all regional public television channels, which means an increase in operating costs and the need to acquire new satellite capacities, which is difficult” – indicates Konfederacja Lewiatan. According to the organization, the additional costs of this project may reach millions of euros and are entirely shouldered by private entrepreneurs.
The draft act includes a provision that “an operator distributing programs in a telecommunications network, with the exception of an entity digitally distributing a program by terrestrial dissemination in a multiplex, is obliged at its own expense to distribute, as well as to appropriately display and ensure easy access for all recipients its services” to must carry/must offer channels.
The National Broadcasting Council, by way of regulation, will be able to extend the must carry/must offer principle to other channels (not more than 30) that take into account the public interest in “access to information, cultural and art goods, dissemination of sport, scientific achievements, education civil society, the needs of national and ethnic minorities, the pluralism of information sources and the diversity of the generally available program offer.
“Violation of the principles of media pluralism”
“The chairman of the National Broadcasting Council receives enormous power that allows him to juggle the offer of not only state-owned media but also private entrepreneurs. He can freely shape the channels list subject to the so-called must carry must offer principle. In our opinion, this violates the principles of media pluralism” – it was written in the position of the Lewiatan Confederation.
Pursuant to the draft, “the broadcaster may not make the conclusion of a contract for the distribution of a program conditional on the conclusion of a contract for the distribution of a program or package of programs other than the one requested by the operator.” The broadcaster will also not be able to “differentiate the fees for making the same program or package of the same programs available to operators distributing the program.”
According to Konfederacja Lewiatan, “the project deeply interferes with the principles of the media market, forcing changes in the creation of products, the principles of cooperation between market participants and existing contracts.” “The numbering of the electronic channel guide (EPG) or bundling is closely related to the negotiated terms of cooperation between broadcasters and operators, taking into account the needs of customers. The existing agreements are long-term and do not allow for introducing such revolutionary changes within a few months,” – points out Lewiatan.
“The way of proceeding with such revolutionary changes for the market is shocking,” – comments Krzysztof Kajda, deputy director general of the Lewiatan Confederation. “The Council of Ministers adopted the changes to the media act without prior consultations, verification of the effects of such proposals or their announcements, and additionally in the draft “technical” act introducing the Electronic Communications Law. Moreover, even after their adoption, the draft was not made public, and public access to it for many days,” – explains Kajda.