TVN Siedem protects itself against the National Broadcasting Council. The station already has a license from abroad

As is the case, the National Broadcasting Council has been delaying the decision to extend the license for TVN Siedem for over a year. The application was submitted on December 23, 2020, and the first vote on this matter took place on February 1, 2022 – however, it remained unresolved. Three members of the National Broadcasting Council were in favor of renewing their powers, and two were against. For the proposal to pass, a majority of 4/5 of the votes is needed. KRRiT consists of five members. At the moment they are: Teresa Bochwic, Janusz Kawecki, Andrzej Sabatowski, Witold Kołodziejski and Elżbieta Więcławska-Sauk.

TVN Siedem protects itself against the vagaries of the National Broadcasting Council

People who do not want to extend the license for TVN Siedem are Janusz Kawecki and Andrzej Sabatowski – reports The next vote on this issue is to take place next Tuesday. Officially, the National Broadcasting Council has delayed making a decision on this matter for so long due to doubts related to the ownership structure of TVN, which belongs to the American company Discovery.

as a security against the refusal, the National Broadcasting Council applied for a Dutch license – a similar maneuver was used when the fate of TVN24 was at stake. Polish law provides that in the territory of the country it is possible to broadcast via cable and satellite under a license from any Member State of the European Union. However, the broadcaster must register the channel with a foreign license to the KRRiT register. The solution is not ideal, as it does not include digital terrestrial television – this broadcasting path is only covered by the Polish license. So if TVN Siedem does not receive it, it means a potential loss of one third of viewers who only perceive the signal in this way, press.pl reports.

Can TVN Siedem disappear from the antenna?

The KRRiT finally granted the TVN24 license at the last minute, when the broadcaster obtained the Dutch license. In the case of TVN Siedem, the same scenario may not necessarily work. Last year, the Council did not extend the license to broadcast the ATM Entertainment channel. The late delivery of the concession application was explained as the reason – this should be submitted no later than 12 months before the expiry of the concession.

The owner of the channel, ATM Grupa, claimed that it had made such a request, but filed another request “out of caution” on October 30 last year. The National Broadcasting Council refused to initiate the proceedings, and at the end of December last year it refused to “restore the case files missing in part and take evidence”. The case was considered closed and on February 25 the channel disappeared from Polish networks. Will the station come back? This will be decided by the courts in which the relevant proceedings are pending.