Grk101

The government is still pushing ahead with its ill-advised television license plan. The tender for the bidding of 4 national television licenses is expected to be published on April 25th, with each television license starting at 3 million euro. The selection process/bidding will conclude by late July. Each license will be auctioned off in phases. http://www.kathimerini.gr/856818/article/epikairothta/ellada/h-prokhry3h-gia-tis-thleoptikes-adeies-sto-opengov http://www.verianet.gr/post/40937-pos-tha-dothoyn-oi-tileoptikes-adeies-poioi-tha-tis-diekdiki

ERT World is expected to re-launch on April 18th in Europe. http://www.tvnea.com/2016/04/ert-world.html Surprise, Surprise, the rights have been granted to Globecast for the next 4 years. Some things never change. :gr:

+ EPSILON TV HD DIGEA launched their second HD Multiplex in Athens and Thessaloniki with, surprisingly, EPSILON TV HD. Expect ALPHA and MEGA shortly.... Meanwhile, DIGEA has also started test broadcasting HD in Patra as well.

Here are two great articles on the situation with the television licenses, giving the real facts. http://www.imerisia.gr/article.asp?catid=26510&subid=2&pubid=113916379 http://www.kathimerini.gr/850331/article/epikairothta/ellada/12-erwthseis---apanthseis-gia-tis-thleoptikes-adeies

The Government made all sorts of outlandish claims (with no backup) as rationals for restricting the new licenses to only 4. One of those claims was that DIGEA could not fit more than 2 HD channels per multiplex, thus the frequencies couldn't support all the current channels in HD. DIGEA have now successfully proven that 4 HD channels fit on a single multiplex, while the channels also proved that they are technically capable. (and worthy to get one of the licenses) People joke that ANT1 still uses VHS tapes in their control room. :lol: All joking aside, the only channel doing HD correctly thus far, is STAR TV. Almost all of their programming (scripted and unscripted) is being broadcast in native HD, as opposed to upscaled HD. I guess STAR was the most prepared out of the ones that launched thus far.

The files are behind a paywall, but it looks like the lawsuit was initiated by ELLAS TV against TITAN for "Fraud or Truth-In-Lending", not the other way around. Titan controls the international rights for MEGA COSMOS, ALPHA SAT, STAR INTERNATIONAL, 4E & RIK SAT. This isn't the first time people from TITAN are involved in a lawsuit over these channels.... Without being able to look at the files/complaints, at worst, my guess is they would loose any international version of these channels.... TITAN is the least of their worries...... By the way, TITAN also used to list SKAI and EPSILON as rights they control, now they are mysteriously gone from their website......

+ MAKEDONIA TV HD

ANT1 HD is also live. Surprisingly, STAR seems to have the best HD picture. Not surprising, ANT1 the worst. Expect more HD to hit Greece by the end of the week...... Here are the current logos they are using:

Once again resurrecting an old thread, but over the weekend SKAI and STAR started broadcasting in HD through DIGEA in Athens and Thessaloniki. Although this is LONG overdue, the "sudden" decision to do so is being speculated having to do with sending a message to the Greek Government, who continues to spread false information about their capabilities (current Greek channels and DIGEA) in this television license saga. Expect at least two more FTA HD channels to launch very soon, DIGEA claims they can host up to 4 per multiplex, but it is inevitable now that the rest of the main FTA channels will do so as well sometime this year.

While it is nice to see an international version of ERT again, at this point their programming is gutted. Special interests still rule at ERT, and because of this, every move they make (positive or negative) is put under the microscope by opposing political parties. This is why they can never move forward with any productions or signing of on air talent. I highly doubt ERT will be able to sign any deals for Sports rights in the near future for ERT World..... I have to say though, that I do look forward to the fiasco and shadiness that will accompany the awarding of the the worldwide rights to ERT World. :gr:

Another tidbit is that the new licenses will only be valid for a four year period. http://en.protothema.gr/bill-on-tv-licenses-submitted-to-greek-parliament/ Does EPSILON TV also have a national license? I know ALTER still holds a license even though it is defunct. I see a lot of merging happening if the law is enforced. ANT1/MAKEDONIA TV share common shareholders, as does MEGA and STAR. As you mention, a lot of these channels are in deep financial trouble. Some are speculating this might be a way for them to declare bankruptcy and start over. The Turkish investor is named Acun Ilicali, and he wants to buy a license for a reality-based channel like his channel in Turkey: http://www.tv8.com.tr/

I see it is listed on MySat: http://www.mysat.tv/packages/#toggle-id-3 Can anyone in Australia confirm?

A new television license law has been voted on that will grant 4 national broadcast licenses. The bill had been mired in controversy because of the restriction of licenses and the government's decision to oversee who get's granted a license instead of an independent body. Greece, unlike the rest of the EU, has maintained a regime of issuing temporary licenses for the last 25 years..... Supposedly the government will consider international bids as well, with a Turkish investor already approaching the government. Excerpt: "The new law allows only for four national TV stations to be operating in Greece, while currently there are seven, threatened to have their licenses taken away." http://greece.greekreporter.com/2016/02/12/new-law-to-change-greeces-media-landscape/

NERIT is officially no more. This is the video that played as the new ERT came on air: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dYCIKyWqjU These channel description were also posted on one of ERT's social media accounts: ERT1: 24 hours News ERT2: 24 hours Entertainment and Culture BY THE END OF JUNE ERT3: 24 hours News, Entertainment, Culture giving an emphasis on the Greek Region

A satellite channel has always been in every re-structuring plan for ERT, so I expect ERT World to return eventually. ERT's programing has been gutted though, and their international sports rights are long gone. So any re-incarnation of ERT World will be drastically different than the old ERT World for the time being.

The NERIT to ERT changeover will be happening on June 11th. The channels will be re-branded as: ERT1, ERT2, ERT3. Here is a commercial for the new ERT nightly news broadcast: Press release: http://www.ert.gr/i-ert-epistrefi/

I wonder why the rush to push up the opening date by a month? Last I had read, they were planning for a June 11th opening, 2 years to the date ERT was shut down. Beside the symbolism, the June date was supposed to be a safeguard against messing up NERIT's deals with Eurovision and Champions League. Regarding the planned services, as I've said before, I believe three domestic channels is overkill. They could get by easily with 2 channels and an International feed. (Plus Vouli) It seemed they were leaning that way too, but have decided otherwise. I guess the government has to try to save some face on their election promises, since most of them haven't panned out thus far. Isn't it funny that prior to ERT's closing, there were almost weekly programing strikes by ERT's union? Yet since the closing, they have prided themselves for reporting uninterrupted (and unpaid) since ERT's closing. One has to wonder where this sense of journalistic duty was prior to the closing? :gr:

They better get these deals locked down while they can. This type of money will not be thrown around if OTE gets their way and buys out NOVA.

If it really is NGTV you guys are getting, they should change the name/description since NGTV is not solely SKAI content anymore. It also seems redundant to carry Star International, in light of the NGTV programing change.

Check out their schedule on their website. I am hearing it is possible they might end up with all the North American rights. http://www.thesportplus.com/

Most of this IPTV is grey-market and it gets murky when you look at the specifics. It seems like the legal side is catching up to them. Over the years, we have seen various pay sites offering Greek streams shut down. (and then re-open under new names, but thats besides the point.) There are now the "big" set-top box based IPTV companies like EllasTV and TVCosmos, and it gets complicated with them too. I know EllasTV took down their NOVA stuff a long time ago I am told, and I recently was informed that they have removed all ANT1 group content from their platform as well. Now the interesting part is that Titan/GMG has actual deals with them for the international feeds from all the rest of the major Greek channels, so they are legal on that front with many of those channels. But then it gets murky when you consider they are also carrying the direct feeds to those channels too, as well as many other direct channels from Greece....

It didn't, but there are rumors that the new government is now thinking the 2 channels + international feed is the way to go as well. We will see what comes of it, because there are also fresh rumors that the government is being pressured to live up to its election promises after the bailout extension fiasco.... The new bill is expected to be tabled next week. From what I know, DT took over the historical archives and maintained them when they launched. I'm not sure if NERIT has been updating them, but they have used content from it (like all those old sports games used to fill up NERIT Sports channel) and they have a link to an on-line version on their page: http://www.hprt-archives.gr/V3/public/main/index.aspx I'm sure the new ERT will take them over as well. The latest report is that they plan a "small increase" to the tax in order to fund the opening of the new ERT. Note that the tax was lowered under the NERIT scheme. I believe the current tax is 3 Euro a month.

From ERT to NERIT back to a new ERT. I figured this deserved its own new thread. The latest news is that the new SYRIZA government plans to establish yet another new broadcaster that will replace NERIT. The bill for the new national broadcaster is expected to be submitted to parliament within a month. The new broadcaster will use the ERT acronym, but will not be a continuation of the old ERT. Instead the new ERT is being preliminarily called "Ethniki Radiofonia Tileorasi" instead of the old "Elliniki Radiofonia Tileorasi". Their aim is to build a "new ERT" from scratch, that will not be controlled by the government and will be free of scandalous contracts and spending. They also plan to resume the satellite link to the Greek Diaspora as soon as possible. The fee tacked onto the electricity bills will remain, and former ERT employees will be rehired. It remains to be seen how the old ERT union will respond when all is said and done. They had been demanding for a 100% re-establishment of the old ERT as it was before it was pulled off the air, and that is what they thought they would get with the new government as soon as it was elected. Meanwhile police have been stationed by the government at the old ERT headquarters following a demonstration by the ERT union..... I'm not sure what the point is of creating yet another new broadcaster from scratch. It seems like a waste of public funds when they could easily just restructure NERIT and achieve their goals. In fact, aside from rehiring all former employees, this sounds like a rehash of the original NERIT idea, just with hopes of much better execution. I guess their egos won't let them work on something the previous government established and something they vilified since inception......

I believe they do on the premium networks (OTE, NOVA) but I highly doubt we will see an HD feed here anytime soon. Good news on the Canada launch though! Now the only big "piece" left is Australia....

Yes it is a local Athens station. From the looks of NGTV's schedule, the only thing I see them airing from ACTION 24 is some cooking show. Maybe it is cheaper for them to acquire this content from Greece than to produce their own stuff to fill the schedules. I don't have access to this channel but I actually think it is a decent offering from a programing standpoint. They are taking content from 3-4 niche channels and offering the best programs. In this regard, the channel is arguably more well rounded --- giving viewers a little bit of everything. (News, sports, entertainment, gossip, cooking, cinema, etc.)