The broadcasting standard is changing, but not for TVP. KO: PiS turns off independent television before the elections

On June 27, in the last provinces, the digital terrestrial broadcasting format was changed to DVB-T2 / HEVC. Older receivers do not support this standard, so in order to receive TV, it is necessary to replace the TV set or set-top box.

TVP can broadcast longer in the old format

The change, it seemed, was to affect all broadcasters. At the last minute – in March, just a few days before the start of the standard change process – it turned out that (MUX-3 and MUX-8 to be exact) would be able to broadcast in the old format until 2023. Mariusz Kamiński, the head of the Ministry of Interior and Administration, requested, and the Office of Electronic Communications agreed to his appeal. Thus you cannot watch free private channels on old TV sets, only public channels from TVP and Metro, Zoom TV, Nowa TV and WP.

More information from the country

In connection with the above, on Wednesday the Civic Coalition organized a press conference signed as “turns off independent television”.

This is a scandalous situation due to the mode of introducing this type of action and the period

– said the spokesman of the Civic Platform and the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Digitization, Innovation and Modern Technologies, Jan Grabiec.

The Civic Coalition believes that this is a deliberate action by the rulers, as the parliamentary ones to be held in 2023 are approaching. Until then, government television is in a privileged position compared to private stations, the coverage of which has been clearly reduced.

The problem affects about 2.5 million viewers, estimates the vice-chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Culture and Media, Iwona Śledzińska-Katarasińska. In turn, the National Media Institute reports that incompatible equipment may affect 1.32 million households. As Śledzińska-Katarasińska said, all of them were “deprived of the right to information”.

It was done just like PiS does everything: stealthily, quietly and, in fact, as if underground. It was hardly known that such decisions were made

– said Śledzińska-Katarasińska. She added that in her opinion, the unsuccessful information campaign was deliberately carried out to mislead citizens about what devices to buy.

Private broadcasters are demanding compensation

Jan Grabiec also pointed out that the decision to allow almost only TVP programs to be broadcast in the old standard will also expose the state to financial losses.

Such action, which does not have any substantive premises, but explicitly discriminates against private broadcasters, may have financial consequences for all of us, because it is for the state budget

– said Grabiec. He explained that private stations will demand compensation for their losses.

that they will claim compensation. Their losses can be counted in millions of zlotys.

We will fight for the rights of viewers, as well as ours, as the largest broadcasters in Poland, with the effects of these actions and demand adequate compensation and the fastest possible switching of TVP channels to the broadcasting standard applicable to other broadcasters

– informed the private senders in a press release.

Help Ukraine, join the collection. You deposit money on the website