Government plays down fears about job losses following TV license auction
State Minister Nikos Pappas has brushed aside allegations that a recent auction of TV licenses, which halved the number of private nationwide broadcasters to four, will bring job losses in a business already hit by a sharp decline in advertising revenue.
“The government is taking all [the necessary measures] to ensure that there will be incentives for the newly-licensed channels to recruit those who are in a difficult position,” Pappas, who oversaw the controversial three-day auction, told Sto Kokkino radio Tuesday.
Before the tender, TV channels had appealed to the Council of State, Greece’s highest administrative court, describing the competition as unconstitutional.
On Tuesday Papas said disgruntled businesses were using their workers as shield to defend their private interests.
“Workers must look their employers in the eye,” he said.
On Monday, the conservative opposition slammed Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras for a comment during his Thessaloniki press conference on Sunday when he indicated that there was no chance the court would annul the results of the auction.
Tsipras’s comments, New Democracy said, amounted to a “raw, provocative and unprecedented intervention.”
