License suspended?
By : Anna KociNska
The National Television and Radio Council (KRRiT), frustrated with the increasingly maverick behavior of digital platform Wizja TV, bared its teeth last week when it began proceedings aimed at removing Wizja's operating license.
Earlier this month, the platform beefed up its package of programs by including the signals of two public TV channels without the consent of public broadcaster Telewizja Polska (TVP). But spurring the media watchdog into action last week was Wizja TV's explanation that because its programming is beamed from abroad, it is not subject to the council's jurisdiction in Poland, meaning the KRRiT cannot prevent it from broadcasting TVP's channels.
Although Wizja TV holds a broadcasting license granted by the council last year, its programming is beamed from the U.K. by Netherland-based UPC Broadcast, a subsidiary of United Pan-Europe Communications, Wizja's owner. Broadcasting from abroad is beyond the KRRiT's realm.
Growing concerns
"They are doing it without the council's consent," said Joanna Stempien, spokeswoman for Juliusz Braun, the KRRiT's chairman. "In addition, Wizja TV is broadcasting a pornographic channel (Private Gold), and on top of that, it's in conflict with TVP; no wonder the council is concerned." Stempien said that in accordance with its license, Wizja was given three months to begin broadcasting in Poland. The platform missed the deadline and still transmits via the Astra satellite from the U.K.
Last week, Wizja was silent about its conflict with the KRRiT. "We haven't received any official information yet from the council," said Dorota Zawadzka, PR director at Wizja TV last week. "We already explained the situation to the council. I can also say we are broadcasting in accordance with the transfrontier law."
KRRiT's Stempien said that last week Wizja applied for an extension of the three-month deadline. "But for now it doesn't change anything," she said. "I can't say whether the license will be really taken away, but it's time for explanations."
The allegations against Wizja are not new. Prior to receiving its license, Wizja's competitors accused platform of illegally broadcasting their programs. In response, Wizja said it did have a concession from the U.K.-based Independent Television Commission and that under the Convention on Transfrontier TV signed by Poland in 1989, it was broadcasting legally. But according to a source who wished to remain anonymous, Wizja TV already had plans to transfer the broadcasting of Polish programs (and programming for the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia) to Poland since last September. It had also planned to build a new uplink in Warsaw in the first quarter of this year. However, this wasn't possible without a signed license, which the KRRiT only awarded in November.
Perhaps the loudest of Wizja TV's critics last week was TVP. "All they're doing is evading Polish law with legal tricks," said Janusz Cieliszak, spokesman for TVP. "And financial negotiations (between Wizja TV and TVP) were almost concluded, so we were really surprised by their move."
In fact, the negotiations between TVP and Wizja TV lasted two years and resulted in no decision. While TVP's President Robert Kwiatkowski initially said public television couldn't cooperate with a broadcaster that does not have a license, that obstacle disappeared when Wizja was granted a broadcasting license last June. But according to sources, there was no way to soften the resistance of TVP's management against placing its signal on Wizja's platform. Moreover, getting hold of TVP's programming was key to winning the battle between Poland's two competing digital platforms.
At present, Canal+ is the only platform in Poland with legal consent to transmit TVP's signal. In August 1999, TVP and Canal+ teamed up with digital platform Cyfra+ and signed an agreement under which they were to jointly create thematic channels while TVP was to acquire 10% of Canal+ Cyfrowy, the manager of the platform. The agreement stated that TVP would also be able to acquire 40% of the company's shares under "favorable conditions." The agreement was blocked by TVP's legal owner, the Treasury Ministry. Then-Treasury Minister Emil Wasacz argued that according to the agreement Cyfra+ was to have exclusive rights to TVP's signal, contradicting the public broadcaster's stated mission of unlimited availability. Wasacz forbid TVP from joining Cyfra+. "The agreement is still suspended," said Malgorzata Babik, PR director of Canal+ last week.
Meanwhile, according to Stempien, under the current law there is no regulation requiring public media to make their signal available via all means of transmission and it's up to TVP to decide who it wants to team up with. An amendment to the media law may end the dispute between TVP and Wizja, but it was only submitted to Sejm at the end of May (see the WBJ, May 28-June 3).
Could a compromise between TVP and Wizja TV have been reached in a different way? "If they (Wizja TV) had come with a check in hand we could have considered giving our consent because Canal+ is paying (for TVP's programming broadcast on the Cyfra+ platform)," Cieliszak said. According to Cieliszak, the illegal broadcasting of TVP from other platforms has its financial consequences. "If others don't pay, they (Canal+) can also reconsider (paying)," he said. "Selling our signal is business for us and those revenues are calculated into our budget." Cieliszak said selling the signals of public television is perfectly legal.
