The government has announced that private television stations in Greece will have to pay a total of 24,554,633 euros for the use of radiofrequencies in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. Television stations in Greece are obliged to pay annual 2% fee of their revenues for the use of radiofrequencies.
This development prompted reactions, as the government has not clarified whether it will offset this sum from the state debts towards the television stations. According to the relevant legislation, the private TV stations are obliged to offer advertising time to the political parties during elections.
In 2012 alone, when there were two general elections, the amount of advertising time which the political parties were given amounted to about 5 to 6 million euros. Given the dire financial condition of the media sector in Greece, which has suffered dearly during the crisis, offsetting these debts could provide some relief to cash-strapped stations.
