One of the first and most influential private television broadcasters in Greece permanently went off the air at 2.11 a.m. (local time) on Sunday, with the nationwide digital platform in the country cutting off terrestrial transmission of Athens-based Mega channel.
Mega debuted nearly 30 years ago, as one of the first television broadcasters in a medium that was previously a state monopoly.
A Council of State (CoS) plenum earlier this month rejected a bevy of motions by Mega’s management and 112 employees to block a ruling by the country’s independent broadcast watchdog ordering a suspension of its transmission.
A majority of justices on Greece’s highest administrative court ruled that the failure of Mega channel to participate in a recent tender for nationwide broadcast licenses leaves it without legal standing to continue transmitting its signal via the Digea platform.
Mega discontinued newscasts and live programs in September 2016, and also failed to submit an application to alter its broadcast license at the time.
Nevertheless, the channel continues to broadcast on the popular subscriber television platforms in the country, airing reruns of some of its most popular series.
