We suggest that for pending actions, the license has not yet expired, the Media Act will allow for the suspension of these actions and an automatic extension this time to amend the license itself – said the head of the National Broadcasting Council, Witold Kołodziejski at the meeting of the Culture Committee on Tuesday.

  • On Tuesday, the House of Representatives’ Culture and Media Committee discussed a draft amendment to the broadcasting law by Law and Justice party deputies.
  • In the public debate, the project is often judged directed against TVN, which is currently in talks with the National Broadcasting Council regarding a license extension.
  • TVN is owned by American Discovery, but operates the station through the Polish Television Holding BV, registered in the Netherlands.

During the meeting, Kołodziejski noted that “the licensing process is governed by its own rules,” and the National Broadcasting Council repeatedly pointed out a problem with the interpretation of Article 35 of the Broadcasting Act. “It is unfortunate that it is related to the time when concessions were also for a politically sensitive media program. The problem has been around for a long time and is much broader” – Kołodziejski noted.

Article 35, mentioned by Kołodziejski, states in point 1 that “the license may be granted to a natural person with Polish citizenship and permanent residence in the territory of the Republic of Poland, or to a legal person or a personal business company established on the territory of the Republic of Poland.”

According to point 2, “a license to a company with foreign participation may be granted if: the share of the capital of foreign persons in the company or the share of foreign persons in the capital of the company does not exceed 49%, the share of foreign persons’ capital in the company or the share of foreign persons in a limited liability company In the capital or joint stock company, and in the case of a simple joint stock company – the total number of shares of such a company does not exceed 49 percent.”

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Point 3, in turn, states that “The concession may also be granted to: a foreign person or subsidiary, within the meaning of the Commercial Companies Law, of a foreign person whose registered office or permanent residence is in a Member State of the European Economic Area — without applying the restrictions contained In Section 2. “.

The Chairman of the National Broadcasting Council noted that during the Committee’s deliberations the word Holland or the Kingdom of the Netherlands was never spoken. “This is the best evidence that the interpretation of this article is pure fiction. Today our conversation partner should be the Netherlands, not the United States, because the Netherlands is the actual owner of the Polish concessionaire,” said Kołodziejski.

In his opinion, the broadcast law is celebrated at 100%. b “a precedent from 2015 where the verb was interpreted using the de facto method”. In 2015, the National Broadcasting Council approved the entry of US capital into TVN.

“In 2015 I remind you that the National Broadcasting Council did not issue any decision, and the National Council expresses its opinion in the form of decisions or positions, it must be voted on by 4/5 votes. Position, no decision, no decision of the President of the National Broadcasting Council, in fact everyone + They played tomato + here at that time. There is only a statement, which actually has the status of the press release, and it’s just a direct quote from the provisions of the law itself – you can’t make a law” – emphasized Kołodziejski.