TV-radio council proposes media capital limits in new bill

Following the voiced support of Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) and Polish Peasants' Party (PSL) Sejm deputies, the National Television and Radio Council (KRRiTV) decided yesterday that regulations regarding the limiting of capital concentration in media should be included in the draft of the new radio and television bill amendment. Under KRRiTV's proposal, those companies who have a nationwide radio or TV license would not be allowed to obtain a second nationwide license, while those who have a nationwide radio license will not be permitted to obtain a second license in a city of more than 100,000 people. "In all of Europe the issue of capital concentration in media is regulated," said KRRiTV Secretary Wlodzimierz Czarzasty. He went on to say that the Polish market was mature enough to have such regulations implemented. Should the KRRiTV proposal come into force, it will influence several domestic media entities, including Eurozet, the owner of Radio Zet and Radiostacja, which broadcast in Warszawa, Krakow, Gdansk and Wroclaw. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B1) P.J.