Another three Greek national television broadcasters joined a previous trio in filing an injunction against a tender by the government to grant television licenses, a highly contentious issue given that the government plans to issue only four licenses with a nationwide broadcast capability.
The injunction against the tender as well as a recently enacted broadcast framework will be discussed by the Council of State, Greece’s highest administrative court, during a closed-door session on July 5.
The leftist Greek government has claimed that only four broadcasters should be licensed, basing the fact on a single study by a university in Italy, and specifically in Florence.
Currently, up to seven or eight broadcasters transmit over a terrestrial digital signal, with television executives and owners livid over the decision, and with the political opposition charging favoritism and an attempt to strangle media freedom in the country.
The Tsipras government, on its part, insists that it is finally establishing a legal framework for television broadcasters in the country, a sector that in recent years has racked up tens of millions of euros in losses and hundreds of millions of euros in bank borrowing.
The corporate plaintiffs are Mega, Skai, Antenna, Alpha, Star and Epsilon.
