Broadcasting tender officially canceled

Several months after the Council of State deemed that the tender launched by the government for four nationwide TV broadcasting permits was unconstitutional, the coalition has officially canceled the process.

A decision signed by Digital Policy Minister Nikos Pappas scrapping the tender was published in the Government Gazette. Pappas was the one that launched the contentious tender with a decision last June, when he was state minister.

In a majority decision last October, Greece’s highest administrative court decided that the tender was not in line with the country’s Constitution because it withdrew the authority for overseeing the licensing process from the broadcasting watchdog, the National Council for Radio and Television (ESR).

In the wake of the verdict, the government vowed to proceed with its plans to regulate the broadcasting sector but it has yet to present any specific plans.