Public broadcaster is accused of airing American documentaries illegally

Public broadcaster Polsat 2 has been accused of airing American-produced documentaries without proper licensing. Another company, Europa, says it bought the rights to 24 titles and is demanding Polsat pay it $450,000 compensation. Europa's owner,Tomasz Filipczak, says, "The documentary films, which I bought, cost $3,000 per hour and are being screened all the time on Polsat 2. They have not paid for this right. Polsat has been licensed to broadcast documentaries on the Info-Document channel exclusively, but has been broadcasting them on Polsat 2 as well, and is continuing to broadcast them despite the fact that licenses expired on June 30. If Europa defeats Polsat in the court, then we will also sue Polsat." Polsat says it has not violated the law, since the classification of a thematic channel does not exist. Thus, programs can be shown both on digital television and on cable, and it has the right to repeat broadcasts. The matter could badly influence the upcoming decision by the National Radio and Television Council (KRRiTV) on whether to allow Polsat to sell 33% of its shares to a foreign investor. (Rzeczpospolita, page A3) M.M.