Greek DVB-T monopoly: All 6 Greek multiplexes sold out at €18 Mi for 15 years

One single carrier of the Greek digital channels is ending up to be given a scandalous monopoly, acquired for a ridiculous price through a questionable auction; it will be a consortium of big private channels, which will be managing the nationwide, the regional but also possibly the public frequencies, reserving the right to filter out some content. According to the official announcement, after the deadline for submission of applications on January 30 run out, the Greek Telecommunications Authority EETT said that only one company named "Service Telecommunications Provider for Digital Broadcasting S.A." having the distinctive title "DIGEA - Digital Provider SA" filed participation in the auction in order to be granted the rights to use the radio and TV frequencies for terrestrial digital broadcasts.

"As a next step, the EETT will proceed to verify that the criteria for qualification are met, and if the company meets such requirements, it will be offered a contract for the entire spectrum of national and regional coverage", adds the Authority.

Pre-settled auction leading to an absolute Monopoly

Former Technical Director of ERT Nikos Michalitsis was interviewed on this topic, during the news program of Open ERT: "Αpparently only one company showed up, because the auction was designed deliberately so that it is of no interest for, or out of the capabilities of any other contestant. So it was quite a pre-defined auction and we should remember that we, the employees of ERT,  have said since the first day after ERT closed, to which direction things are driven. We are talking about an absolute monopoly because this auction was regulated contrary to what always happens, when there is only one participant, i.e. repeating the competition in order to achieve the greatest public benefit. In this case, it's not just that the competition won't be repeated, but instead of just giving to this one contestant 4 nationwide multiplexes, they give directly all regional multiplexes including the regional stations. We are therefore talking about the ultimate monopoly, which of course has caused the reaction by the union of regional stations, namely the "Digital Union", who have made an appeal to the High Court against this auction. The result of the auction was in fact pre-defined"

"Whatsmore, this auction has been won by Digea, i.e. a digital provider who is a consortium of the majour private channels; at the first place, this means that the provider -the one providing the digital television broadcast service- will consist of its clients: The television stations. The money that are supposed to be paid, will flow directly from one pocket to another".

Ridiculous price : they pay 18 million,  will receive 600

"The price is too low. 6 digital multiplexes (of which 4 are composed of nationwide stations and 2 of regional stations) are given for 18 million Euros only, for 15 years. Meanwhile, it is estimated that each of the 30 or 40 stations included in these multiplexes will pay Digea approximately one million Euros per year. That can sum up to 30-40 million Euros per year, but the state will receive only a total of 18 million Euros for 15 years, surrendering the monopoly of the radio and TV spectrum for an entire period of 15 years"

Digea may also operate the two public multiplexes, as NERIT is still inexistent

"Concerning public broadcasting: the public broadcaster has been assigned two multiplexes by law. So both private channels (the commercial network provider, namely Digea) and the NERIT (which is currently supposed to be the public broadcaster of Greece) are obliged to set one transmitter per multiplex multiplied by 156 broadcasting sites all around Greece. NERIT must therefore install 300 transmitters: they should buy them and find people to install them, which is impossible because the company is not yet in full operation and therefore cannot call for a bidding process on the required equipment".

"This bidding was about to take place before the ERT was closed: it never took place with the responsibility of the [then CEO and now a special liquidator of ERT] Mr. Manalis, who never put it on the announcement board. So they cannot buy the transmitters and they have no personnel to set them up, because they have opened only 5 positions for the entire technical network of NERIT, among a total of 615 employees. Even if they decide to set it up themselves, it will be finished after 5 years."

"Consequently, as the transmitters need to be there by October 1st, when the analog TV switches off, they will use the opportunity to subcontract these two multiplexes (including management, purchasing and setting up transmitters) to Digea, which will surcharge everything - both the purchase of the transmitters and the annual maintenance costs. The public broadcaster will pay to Digea, instead of having its own network to manage. In the end, NERIT will have to pay Digea the amounts Digea needs for setting up their own transmitters. Digea have to pay 18 million Euros in 15 years, while they will be receiving much more. In the end, the public fund will be funding Digea, whereas the latter will be holding a full monopoly on everything."

H Digea can control the content of the channels

"This means a complete control of the television landscape: not just in terms of producing content, as it is being done currently by private channels and the interim governmental channel "DT", but also in terms of digital broadcasting. The provider will be able to check the content of any channel and if they do not like it, they can take it off air. This is what they did, if you remember, to the 902 TV, which tried to relay the protest program of the ERT employees."

"This is a huge scandal because there are people to blame, on how such an auction ended it up like that; and the fact that although it could collect a lot of money for the state, only one company showed up and took it with the lowest price - which is ridiculous for the service it undertakes. Responsibilities can no longer be charged to the special administrator of ERT, since the government voted a regulation that excempts him from any legal issue."