The license for TVN24 should be granted. This is an obvious matter for us – said Anna Kornecka from the Agreement on TVN24, Deputy Minister of Development, Labor and Technology. She also talked about the amendment to the Agreement to the law called lex TVN.
A group of Law and Justice deputies lodged in the Sejm on 7 July draft amendment to the Broadcasting Act. Commentators agree that the changes are aimed at TVN’s independence. TVN24 is still waiting for the National Broadcasting Council to extend its license, which expires on September 26. An application for its extension was submitted in February 2020. In 2015, the National Broadcasting Council approved the entry of American capital into TVN. Since 2016 – under the same ownership conditions – KRRiT has already issued licenses for TVN24 BiS, TTV and TVN International West.
Parliamentary Committee on Culture and Media during the Tuesday meeting, it adopted the draft amendment to the media law along with the amendments. The bill is to be considered at the session of the Sejm on August 11.
Kornecka: The issue of the license for TVN24 is obvious to us
On Tuesday, the guest of “One for One” on TVN24 was Anna Kornecka from the Agreement, Deputy Minister of Development, Labor and Technology. The agreement of your support for the anti-TVN project depends on the adoption of the proposed by them amendmentswhich was already rejected by PiS deputies in the parliamentary committee. This amendment expands the catalog of countries in which legal entities owning media operating in Poland may have their registered offices. In the PiS draft, these are the countries of the European Economic Area, and in the Agreement amendment also the OECD countries, and thus the United States.
– In the opinion of the Agreement, the issue of the TVN license is obvious. We see no obstacles for which TVN would not obtain a license, said Kornecka. She added that there are also no “legal obstacles, under the regulations in force today, to grant such a license”.
– Americans are a guarantor of freedom of speech and respect for the values ​​of a democratic state of law. I do not see any obstacles for them to continue their activities in Poland – added the deputy minister.
She also said that the amendment proposed by the Agreement “guarantees the achievement of the aim of this law, that is, securing us against possible interference by non-democratic states.” At the same time, this change does not mean that “TVN, owned by Americans, will not be able to broadcast in Poland”.
– The proposed law allows the media to be German, Spanish and French. It is not known for what reasons they cannot be American – emphasized Kornecka.
Main photo source: TVN24