KRRiTV blames ministry for concession delay
The Television and Radio Council (KRRiTV) accused the communications minister last week of delaying the distribution of new licenses to radio stations whose broadcasting concessions are due to expire next year.
KRRiTV is responsible for awarding the licenses.
In a letter to Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek, KRRiTV Chairman Juliusz Braun complained about "the minister's idleness." Under the law, the council chairman, in agreement with the communications minister, places announcements about concession openings in the press and when broadcasters can apply for them. Braun has been expecting to receive Communications Minister Tomasz Szyszko's answer to his July inquiry about details of announcements regarding two national radio broadcasters, Radio Zet and RMF FM.
According to Joanna Stepien, the chairman's spokeswoman, Braun had still not received a response late last week. "Oct. 13 was the absolute deadline set by Braun and the minister at their last meeting on Oct. 4," she said. "The letter to the prime minister was sent late on Wednesday (Oct.18)."
According to Przemyslaw Sypniewski, the communications minister's adviser, at the Oct. 4 meeting Szyszko and Braun had agreed that Szyszko would have until the end of last week to respond. "Actually, we had an answer ready on Wednesday, but due to the letter of complaint sent to the preme minister, we wanted to add to our response," he said.
Sypniewski said Szyszko was surprised by the chairman's reaction. "It (the reaction) might have been caused by some kind of panic, because for the past seven years the council has not prepared clear rules for reapplying for concessions," he said. "In July, the minister asked the council to present a precise plan for the new concession process, but we haven't received an answer yet." Sypniewski said that the council's criteria are suspect considering it wants to deal with only two radio broadcasters while others wait. "The council's activities were also criticized in the September report of the Supreme Board of Inspection (NIK)," the report stated. "The inspectorate found faults in the way the council was implementing the conditions of Radio Maryja's concession. Flaws in the concession granting process were partly caused by a lack of clarity in the rules applied."
"We approached the minister in July in a bid to agree on the content of those announcements," Stepien said. "If the minister had doubts, he could have said something in July."
Radio broadcasters were up front with concerns about the future of their concessions when they met with council members last year in Jablonna near Warsaw. "They said that everything is under control and that there is still a lot of time to deal with it," said Marek Michalski, deputy director of local radio stations at media group Agora.
Meanwhile, the first concessions for radio broadcasting are due to expire in May, and market insiders said the council might not be able to meet all the formalities of the new concession process in time.
"Recalling the first concession process, when the granting of concessions took up to three years in extreme cases, makes me doubt (the council will be ready)," Michalski said.
While the new concession process is not yet underway, the broadcasters' anxiety is growing. "The council is blaming the minister for the delay and the minister is talking about bringing order to the radio market," said Anna Kozlowska, head of PR at RMF FM, one of the country's largest private radio broadcasters, which received its seven-year concession on May 25, 1994.
According to Sypniewski, the ministry's stance is clear and hasn't changed following Braun's complaint to the prime minister. "It's necessary to optimize the distribution of radio frequencies and reshape the existing networks in order to save additional frequencies," Sypniewski said. He said the minister would send a letter last Friday responding to Braun's complaints and explaining that positive changes in radio frequency distribution are possible. "We'll send him a list of 15 frequencies out of the 103 used by Radio Zet and RMF FM, which could be saved without affecting existing broadcasters," Sypniewski said. "If the council had inquired not only about Radio Zet and RMF FM but also about other broadcasters, such savings could have gone even further."
But irritated broadcasters, which a few months ago thought they would be able to automatically renew their concessions, don't want changes just days before the new concession process could start.
"You can do a lot to improve the situation on the radio market but not at the last moment, practically after the deadline," said RMF FM's Kozlowska. According to Agora's Michalski, addressing the concession process under which many broadcasters haven't yet received frequencies promised in their concession is a painstaking task that will take years. "It terrifies me that such an initiative is occurring now," he said. "If the minister has good intentions, and I trust he has, let him grant us a concession for another seven years and in the meantime he can put things in order. He will be ready just in time for the new concession process in seven years."
