Private TV to promote license fee in return for TVP dropping advertising

Zygmunt Solorz, the owner of leading TV channel Polsat, has proposed an extraordinary agreement with public station TVP under which private broadcasters would launch a campaign aimed at encouraging viewers to pay for their TV licenses in return for which TVP2 would discontinue all advertising. "The situation in Poland reminds me of the shape of the Lithuanian advertising market a year or so ago, when competition between public and commercial channels led to a complete market crash," said Solorz. He maintained that the proposed strategic agreement would enable the establishment of minimum prices for commercial air-time. The idea evoked various reactions. While Andrzej Soltysik, spokesman for commercial channel TVN, supported Solorz's idea, TVP representatives doubted whether the proposed campaign would be effective. "Zygmunt Solorz said in public that he didn't want to pay his TV license, and TVN in [news program] "Fakty" presented opinions criticizing the license. Should the campaign start, viewers could become confused," said Janusz Cieliszak of TVP. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 6) M.K.