The bill proposed by Pavlos Marinakis, Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister and Government Spokesperson, was passed today (June 11) by the Plenary Session of the Hellenic Parliament. The bill is titled: “Licensing of providers of free-to-air digital terrestrial television content with regional coverage and other provisions.”
At the same time, through an amendment submitted by Mr. Marinakis and included in the bill, the request of a small number of journalists working at ERT, the Athens-Macedonian News Agency - MPE, and the General Secretariat for Public Information (GSPI), to have their prior service recognized for the period during which they had previously worked at the same organization in a different position but performed the duties of a journalist. In fact, this was a provision welcomed by all parliamentary parties.
Specifically, regarding the operational framework of regional channels, this is an initiative through which the Government is putting an end to a significant institutional and legal issue that has been pending for decades by enacting a comprehensive licensing process for regional television stations.
For 28 years and up to the present, regional channels across the country have been operating under the provisional status of “legal operation,” broadcasting and participating in advertising (private or public), as well as receiving all kinds of subsidies, without being subject to strict controls, operating in a largely unregulated landscape. Today, 81 regional television stations operate legally throughout the country.
Their definitive licensing, in addition to being an institutional and constitutional requirement, will elevate the television stations, the content they provide to viewers, and their own assets, as they will become license holders; and, most importantly, it will ensure the implementation of clear conditions and rules, compliance with which will be systematically monitored.
This brings order to the television landscape at the regional level, just as the government did for the print and electronic press through the operation of the Print and Electronic Press Registers, ensuring transparency, accountability, and sustainability. In this way, the position of regional media—which traditionally play a significant role in local communities and are characterized by reliability and coverage of issues of local interest—is further strengthened.
Following Law 5212/2025 on the print and electronic press and Law 5253/2025 on the strengthening of public broadcasting and the transposition of the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), this is the third consecutive bill in less than a year that aims to definitively resolve temporary situations that had become entrenched for decades in the media sector, creating a landscape with rules, requirements, and transparency in the media sector. In the coming period, corresponding legislation will follow regarding the licensing of radio stations across the country, completing a significant reform cycle.
What we are achieving:
- A comprehensive licensing process is being established based on modern, transparent, objective, and purely quality-based requirements and evaluation criteria.
- Specific rules and clear conditions are set, both for regional television stations to obtain a license and for their subsequent operation.
- Strict penalties are imposed for non-compliance with the rules, ranging up to license revocation.
- The quality of services provided is being upgraded, as licensing requires broadcasting exclusively in high definition (HD).
This is achieved through the implementation of a major project by the Ministry of Digital Governance for the transition to the DVB-T2 transmission standard.
- The relevant provisions of Law 4339/2015 of the SYRIZA government are repealed, and the failed auction model—under which a license was awarded to whoever paid the most money—is effectively abolished.
- The jobs of journalists and all employees are protected, while additional jobs are created.
- Legitimate television stations are protected from unfair competition they might face from “ghost” stations or stations that do not meet minimum requirements and criteria, yet nevertheless make use of the “scarce resource” of frequencies.
- Control and oversight by the National Broadcasting Council are substantially strengthened, as the provisions of the bill increase the Council’s staff by 62%.
It is noted that the licensing process will be carried out entirely by the competent National Council for Radio and Television, on a regional zone basis. The number of licenses is determined exclusively based on the capacity of the available spectrum per Regional Zone, following a recommendation by the Hellenic Telecommunications and Post Commission (EETT) and the opinion of the NCRTV. In determining the full set of licensing and operating conditions, population data and economic conditions per Regional Zone have been taken into account, and extensive consultation has been conducted with regional television stations throughout the country. Licensed regional television stations will not pay a “fee” for the license; instead, they will pay a nominal annual amount to cover the cost of supervision by the National Broadcasting Council (ESR), which will vary by region.
The licensing process for each Regional Zone is divided into two phases. During Phase A, only specific qualitative requirements are assessed using “on/off” criteria, which any television station must meet in order to be licensed, while licenses will be divided into news program licenses and non-news program licenses.
Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister and Government Spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis stated: “With the legislative framework for the operation of regional-range channels, which we introduced and which was passed today by the Plenary Session of the Parliament, we are definitively leaving behind an operating regime that remained ‘provisional’ for 28 years. We are now moving to a framework of permanent licensing, with rules, transparency, and clear criteria. And we are doing so in the institutionally correct manner: The executive branch does not assume responsibility for granting licenses. The process is entrusted, as required by the Constitution, to the competent independent body, the National Council for Radio and Television.
We are also moving away from the failed auction model, as we do not believe it is right for the license to go to whoever offers the most money, as was the case in the past. It is particularly important to note that during the debate on the bill, a consensus was reached with the opposition parties, and the dialogue was conducted on the basis of substance and mutual respect, rather than sterile confrontation. Local channels are the stations that cover the issues that matter most to every village, every city, every county, every neighborhood—both in Attica and across the region. It is the journalists, the technicians, the staff as a whole, but also the viewers, who have watched—and for many years have watched—their local issues being broadcast in lower-quality images and through companies that waited every year for the minister of the day to renew their license. So, some people took this serious discussion seriously.
I am referring to the government majority and part of the opposition, while others dismissed it. I, therefore, retain a positive view. The final form of the legislative initiative is the result of the preceding consultation, the recommendations and proposals from stakeholders, as well as the contribution of that part of the opposition that exercised its institutional role responsibly.”