Government avoids dealing with the media
For nearly a decade and a half media companies have been demanding a bill that would make the regulation of the media sector clearer. They say the current law - passed in 1992 and amended 19 times so far - is creaky and outdated, and one new, all-encompassing bill is needed to address the quickly evolving market.
But drafting a new media bill will be a daunting task for any government. Work on the law started by former Prime Minister Leszek Miller led to the Rywin scandal, which in turn contributed to the resignation of Miller himself. Marek Belka's government put the bill on the backburner, and now there is little chance the bill will be dealt with until the results of the general elections are known.
"We need a kind of framework within which we can work," says Magorzata Czaplicka, investor relations manager for private station TVN. The current law fails to address several issues such as licensing and copyright law, but the touchiest subject is advertising regulations for Polish Public Television (TVP).
"The big issue is that public TV has two sources of revenues: the advertising revenues and revenues from monthly fees that every household is obliged to pay," says Wodzimierz Giller, a media analyst for Deutsche Bank Securities SA, adding: "This spoils the advertising market and decreases advertising prices." He blames public TV for starting a price war that led to the ad-market recession from 2002-2003.
TVP argues that it has a mission to provide top-quality programming, and can only do this with more sources of revenue than its private competitors.
There are also those who want any new law to regulate consolidation in the media sector in order to prevent monopolization - a proposal that rankles the industry. "This bill isn't needed to limit any concentration in the sector, because we have the anti-trust office," says Giller.
In the end, industry players say they're willing to wait if it means one comprehensive and comprehensible bill that would set out the framework for the market.
"It's necessary," says Czaplicka, "but we'd rather wait longer than have something which is done in a rush and doesn't address all the issues or will be contradictory."
But drafting a new media bill will be a daunting task for any government. Work on the law started by former Prime Minister Leszek Miller led to the Rywin scandal, which in turn contributed to the resignation of Miller himself. Marek Belka's government put the bill on the backburner, and now there is little chance the bill will be dealt with until the results of the general elections are known.
"We need a kind of framework within which we can work," says Magorzata Czaplicka, investor relations manager for private station TVN. The current law fails to address several issues such as licensing and copyright law, but the touchiest subject is advertising regulations for Polish Public Television (TVP).
"The big issue is that public TV has two sources of revenues: the advertising revenues and revenues from monthly fees that every household is obliged to pay," says Wodzimierz Giller, a media analyst for Deutsche Bank Securities SA, adding: "This spoils the advertising market and decreases advertising prices." He blames public TV for starting a price war that led to the ad-market recession from 2002-2003.
TVP argues that it has a mission to provide top-quality programming, and can only do this with more sources of revenue than its private competitors.
There are also those who want any new law to regulate consolidation in the media sector in order to prevent monopolization - a proposal that rankles the industry. "This bill isn't needed to limit any concentration in the sector, because we have the anti-trust office," says Giller.
In the end, industry players say they're willing to wait if it means one comprehensive and comprehensible bill that would set out the framework for the market.
"It's necessary," says Czaplicka, "but we'd rather wait longer than have something which is done in a rush and doesn't address all the issues or will be contradictory."
