The much-debated tender for television licenses continues as planned, with the lastest information indicating that the procedures for two of the licenses have concluded.
Government sources have disputed rumors that have begun circulating, underlining that nobody outside the offices of the General Secretariat for Media and Communication, where the auction is being held, has any information. Major police forces have been stationed around the building, while journalists have been excluded. The participants in the auction were also not allowed to take any telephones or other electronic devices.
Meanwhile, the government spokesperson Olga Gerovasili responded to New Democracy’s Giorgos Koumoutsakos, accusing the main opposition of doing everything it can to defend the vested interests and corruption, after failing to block the tender in the first place.
Mrs. Gerovasili argued that New Democracy allowed private television stations to broadcast on public frequencies for 27 years without being asked to pay a single euro and now it has the ‘audacity’ to promise deregulation and give out more licenses, in an effort to undermine the auction.
The Journalists’ Union of Athens Daily Newspapers (ESIEA) issued a statement criticizing the tender, claiming that the government is pretending to address vested interests, while auctioning off the right to inform public opinion to the highest bidder.
