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New media ownership law will improve legal system, security: MP

“I perceive all the statements that check the amendment to the Broadcasting Act with regard to the interests of one of the companies as a very strong example of lobbying for private business and not for the benefit of the Polish law,” assessed Law and Justice (PiS) MP Joanna Lichocka.

Each country has right to modify its regulations: PM on Broadcasting Act

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On Tuesday afternoon, the Committee of the Culture and Media of Sejm, the lower house of the Polish parliament, adopted the draft of the amendment of the Broadcasting Act. A total of 16 MPs voted for it, 12 were against and one abstained.


The lower house will continue its work on the draft of the new regulations of August 11.


Since 2004, an act has been in place in Poland, which stipulates that the concessionaire – the owner of a television or radio in Poland- may only be a company with a maximum of 49 percent of foreign, non-European capital. In the opinion of PiS MP Joanna Lichocka, this law is currently being bypassed by creating daughter companies in the European Union.



“And in fact, capital from outside the EU may be the owner of large television or radio. It may be capital from Russia, from China, also from the US. At the moment, we have a problem with clarifying these provisions,” she noted.

The controversy about the regulations concerns the status of one of the biggest commercial TV broadcasters in the country TVN, owned by the American Discovery Inc., that may not comply with the new law.



“I have the impression that reducing this discussion to the interests of one media corporation is a misunderstanding. I am interested in improving Polish law, and not in licensing issues – this is the domain of the National Broadcasting Council,” Ms Lichocka said.

In its current form, The Polish Broadcasting Act stipulates that a license may not be granted to a company whose foreign capital exceeds 49 percent of shares. The law, however, does not provide restrictions on entities whose registered office is in a member state of the European Economic Area.



Similar legal provisions exist in other EU countries such as France, where no foreigner may own over 20 percent of a company with a license to broadcast radio or television in the country or otherwise engage in the newspaper or online news service, with the exception of companies owned (at least 80 percent) by public broadcasters in the member states of the Council of Europe.



However, many internal anti-concentration regulations still apply to them, including no possibility of having more than 49 percent shares in the company, as well as provisions against cross-concentration.



In Germany – as in Poland – a broadcasting license for private media may only be granted to a citizen or legal person residing in Germany or another Member State of the European Union or the European Economic Area.



Only Austrian citizens or legal persons established in Austria can broadcast television in that country. Importantly, however, the Act on Private Broadcasting provides that natural and legal persons operating in the European Economic Area are treated like their Austrian counterparts. Moreover, the share of foreign entities (from outside the EEA) in the company, both for television and radio, may not exceed 49 percent. These provisions are identical in their restrictiveness to the current Polish regulations.

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