On June 21, 2024, the National Broadcasting Council decided to grant a license for terrestrial broadcasting to Republika and wPolsce24 stations. The decision was made at an additional, initially unscheduled meeting of the National Broadcasting Council. During it, Chairman Maciej Świrski connected with other members of the National Council remotely because he was not present in Poland.
As he correctly points out, these are different names than the currently broadcasting channels, because it was not possible to take part in the competition with existing stations. Losing in the competition to right-wing stations were the Hungarian company TV2 Média Csoport Zártköruen Muködo Részvénytársaság (the lifestyle channel PTV) and Polskie Wolne Media from the MWE Networks group (Polska24, devoted to disinformation, among others).
Sakiewicz and Karnowski brothers’ stations with a terrestrial broadcasting license. “Guarantor of maintaining a diverse and pluralistic offer”
“New programs in the signal of the nationwide MUX 8 multiplex will be distributed in the standard definition system, in the DVB-T standard, will be uncoded and made available to recipients free of charge. They will also guarantee the preservation of a diverse and pluralistic programming offer on the media market in Poland,” the Council explained in the statement.
Danuta Holecka and Katarzyna Gójska (privately the wife of Michał Rachoń) are the biggest stars of TV Republika, which is supposed to be a ‘sign of pluralism and diversity of the media’ on terrestrial television Promotional materials of TV Republika
Chairman Maciej Świrski and members Agnieszka Glapiak, Hanna Karp and Marzena Paczuska, who took over control of TVP1’s “Wiadomosci” at the beginning of 2016, voted in favor of granting a license to broadcast on terrestrial television to both right-wing broadcasters. In turn, the fifth member of the National Broadcasting Council, prof. UW Tadeusz Kowalski did not participate in the vote. He told the Presserwis editorial team about the reasons for this decision:
I believe the decision-making was premature, as I explained in my position paper. Of course, this is an administrative proceeding, and all parties have the right to appeal to the Provincial Administrative Court, but this does not mean that the licenses will not enter into force. Technical arrangements will be necessary with UKE. The resolution has been adopted. After completing all formalities, a license will be issued.
The National Broadcasting Council sees hybrid war, but only on paper. Application by Prof. Kowalski’s request to verify the senders was rejected
And what is the position of prof. Kowalski? Before the meeting of the National Broadcasting Council on June 21, it submitted a formal request for verification in terms of national security and defense of all applicants, their entities and their beneficial owners who submitted applications for granting a license for MUX 8.
“At the meeting on June 21 this year, four members of the National Broadcasting Council adopted a resolution on the use of vacant seats at MUX 8. In my opinion, this was in violation of the principle of due diligence resulting from the lack of sufficient information about applicants and ignoring some economic opinions,” wrote prof. . Tadeusz Kowalski.
Prof. Tadeusz Kowalski also reminded that on June 12, members of the National Broadcasting Council unanimously adopted “Position on the role of the National Council in a hybrid war situation“. “In its content, we referred to the obligations arising from the provisions of the Broadcasting Act of both current broadcasters and entities applying for a license to not only meet the financial, investment and technical criteria, comply with the regulations regarding radiocommunication and mass media, and program activities of broadcasts (referred to in Article 36, section 1), but also conditions relating to state security and defense, principles of protection of classified information, good manners and upbringing, and interests of national culture (Article 36, section 2),” he wrote.
“The position included a valid postulate that, since the National Broadcasting Council does not have independent competences to verify entities in terms of state security and defense, this should be done on the basis of official data obtained from the relevant state authorities, including the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Affairs Internal Affairs and Administration, Ministry of National Defense, Internal Security Agency, Central Anticorruption Bureau, SKW,” we read further.
The request for verification was not approved by the majority of the Council. “When adopting my position, I was convinced that it was not just a blank expression of the concern of the members of the National Broadcasting Council for Poland’s information security. The rejection of my formal application shows that this is not the case,” said Prof. Tadeusz Kowalski.
Within two months, the competition was announced and the (right-wing) winners were selected. One of the losing broadcasters announces its cancellation
The former chairman of the National Broadcasting Council, Juliusz Braun, also commented on the matter and, in an interview with an industry portal, noticed the regulator’s haste. Well, the competition was announced at the beginning of April.
Everyone has the right to apply for a license and take part in the competition. However, the position of prof. Tadeusz Kowalski shows that one may have serious reservations about the course of the competition. The National Broadcasting Council took almost a year to resolve the simple issue of TVN Style’s concession, and in a more complicated case requiring the analysis of company documents, we had an astonishing rush, he said.
Michał Winnicki, owner of the MWE Networks group, which proposed the Polska24 station for the MUX 8 multiplex, announces that he will file an appeal. – We are waiting to receive the resolutions to find out why these applications won. How were they better than ours? We will definitely appeal. Especially since the announcement by prof. Kowalski shows that not all opinions were taken into account – he tells “Presserwis”.
However, we managed to talk to the Hungarian company TV2 Media, which was planning to launch a lifestyle channel called PTV. Hungarians do not have similar intentions as the Polish broadcaster. – We respect Polish institutions. We have reviewed the decision and will review it and discuss our next steps in the coming weeks.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
