KRRiTV dispute highlights political role in broadcasting arena

AWS leaders decided last Tuesday to ask the tribunal to look into the council's operations, particularly procedures used to grant supraregional licenses to tvn and Nasza TV early last year. But the senior government coalition partner isn't just concerned with the council's procedures. It is hoping that such an investigation, coming on the tail of rulings by the Supreme Administrative Court (NSA) that there were flaws in the licensing procedure, will allow it to dismiss some council members, said Tomasz Welnicki, deputy chairman of the Sejm's Culture and Media Committee and a member of the AWS alliance.
"Both stations, not as a result of their own mistakes, but thanks to Chairman (of the KRRiTV, Boleslaw) Sulik are broadcasting illegally now," Welnicki said. "This can cost the country's budget from $180 million-$200 million in damages."
The country's second-largest private broadcaster, tvn said earlier this month that it would sue the council and seek financial compensation for damages it incurred as a result of faulty licensing process (WBJ, Oct. 12-18, 1998). "They will sue, and frankly speaking I don't see any way they could lose," Welnicki said.
The result is that AWS wants to see council members held responsible for the situation, which they charge is a result of "incompetence and arrogance" on the part of the KRRiTV.
But according to the country's Media Law, members of the agency - three of whom are appointed by the Sejm, three by the Senate and three by the president - may be dismissed after the State Tribunal decided the council has violated its constitutional prerogatives.
Opposition politicians quickly labeled AWS' move as a power-play for control of the council, which is the nation's media watchdog. "AWS wants power over media, there is no question about it," said Andrzej Urbanczyk, spokesman for Democratic Left Alliance (SLD). "They are very consistent and very brutal."
Currently, KRRiTV is largely controlled by left- and center-leaning members, with only two members from AWS. Noticeably, the two members, Marek Jurek and Jan Szafraniec, are not included in the AWS motion. "It's a coup d'etat on a constitutional organ," said Urbanczyk. "(The motion) is close to being ridiculous."
"It's just another attempt to get more control over the council and ultimately over the country's media scene," added a media executive with a private broadcaster, who did not wish to be named.
And the road ahead for AWS may be long and arduous. To push its motion, AWS first has to gather 115 signatures for the document, get it approved by the Speaker of the Sejm, push it through the Sejm's Constitutional Responsibility Committee and then through the lower house of the Parliament.
"I don't see any way this motion could be voted against," Welnicki said.
"This Sejm has not gone nuts, yet," Urbanczyk added.
But the battle over broadcasting doesn't stop there. Publicly owned Telewizja Polska (TVP) rests in the hands of board members appointed by the previous SLD-Peasants Party (PSL) government. This has caused a rift between it and Telekomunikacja Polska (TPSA), which is controlled by AWS appointees.
The battlefield between these two state-owned giants has become the Polish Digital Platform that Canal+ Polska is trying to put together. The pay-television operator wanted both companies to take part in its platform, but the two didn't want to be in the same group together, industry members said.
In the end, Canal+ chose to go with TVP, even though this could cause some broadcasting problems. "Obviously, from a strictly business point of view they went with TVP," one source close to the deal told the Business Journal.
Question time
The Mokotow Prosecutor's Office was reportedly set last week to question Mariusz Walter, the president of tvn, the Business Journal has learned.
While the schedule was not revealed, Ryszard Kucinski, spokesman for the city's Prosecutors Office, said Walter will have to answer questions concerning the station's operations after its supraregional license was suspended by the Supreme Administrative Court (NSA) at the end of September.
"There are certain questions that only Mr. Walter can answer," Kucinski said.
Earlier this month, prosecutors also questioned KRRiTV head Boleslaw Sulik. "We got full and complete answers from him, both regarding the licensing proceedings which have been questioned as well as actions taken after the NSA's ruling, but we still have some uncertainties," Kucinski said.
Neither tvn, nor smaller Nasza TV, stopped broadcasting on their supraregional frequencies after the NSA ruling.
Back and forth
The advertising division of public broadcaster Biuro Reklamy TVP got a brand new set of movers and shakers last week.
Wojciech Danowski, the former marketing director who parted ways with Biuro Reklamy this summer for a three-month love affair with Poczta Polska, returned to his former home as its new managing director.
He replaced Maria Gorecka, who had acted as the head of the division after former director Witold Gawda left the company earlier this summer to work on the creation of the Polish branch of MindShare, a media house affiliated with the global networks of Ogilvy & Mather and J. Walter Thompson. Danowski's former staffer in the marketing department, Tomasz Michalski, was promoted to head the company's marketing operations.
The pack of new executives also includes Wlodzimierz lawniczak, who became the company's new financial director.