NEWS

TV license drama continues

TV license drama continues

As rumors abounded over the progress of a dramatic competition for four television broadcasting licenses that was still ongoing late Wednesday, bailiffs on Wednesday morning placed several injunctions against the process in the railings of the hermetically sealed and heavily guarded gates of the General Secretariat of Information and Communications (GGEE) in central Athens.

Private broadcasters Skai, Star, Alpha and Antenna – all bidders in the competition – filed separate injunctions in regard to different aspects of the process, while the construction firm of Christos Kalogritsas, also participating in the competition, filed the last order, against the broadcasters.

Despite the drama that has surrounded the tender – which has been shrouded in secrecy after bidders were sequestered in the building for the duration of the process and an information blackout was put in place regarding their exact number and identity – government spokeswoman Olga Gerovasili on Wednesday hastened to assure that the process is going smoothly. The auction, she said, is designed “to preserve full transparency and objectivity.”

Meanwhile, in a related development, an opposition MP on Wednesday called for Kalogritsas,to be summoned by a parliamentary committee probing media funding.

New Democracy deputy Dimitris Stamatis called for the investigation in response to comments by Defense Minister Panos Kammenos suggesting that Kalogritsas was bidding in the TV tender with ill-gotten gains.

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