Greece’s first ever television station, now known as ET1, is likely to be one of the victims of the streamlining of public broadcasting services due to be announced today by Minister of State Ilias Mossialos.The minister’s plans, which form part of the government’s public spending cuts, were approved on Thursday by the Cabinet.
According to sources, they include the closure of ET1 and state broadcaster ERT’s digital channels Cine Plus and Sport Plus, which had recently merged into one. ERT will retain the digital frequencies for future use. Its other channel on the digital platform, Prisma, will remain but will be aimed at disabled people. Satellite channel ERT World will continue in its current format. ET3, the TV channel that is based in northern Greece, will be made a regional channel covering cultural, entertainment and sports-related issues.
Public radio ERA will also be affected by the cutbacks. Five of its 20 mediumwave transmitters will be shut down and 19 regional stations will be merged into nine. The Radiotileorasi weekly magazine, which contains TV and radio listings, will also be closed. The National Audiovisual Archive will suffer the same fate.
An ERT building in Thessaloniki and one in Athens will be used to house government departments, thereby saving more public money. A process to evaluate the employees at ERT is also set to begin but Mr Mossialos is not expected to announce the sacking of any long-term members of staff.
It’s not clear how much money the government hopes to save from the cuts.
(Source: ekathimerini.com)
on Sep 14th, 2011 at 09:09
Cuts on the Greek public broadcaster ERT are going even further, as it has been forced to reduce personnel by 10% (approximately 380 people) within two weeks and reassess the qualification of the remaining ones within two months.
http://www.thegreekradio.com/node/2874
on Sep 15th, 2011 at 13:27
Today, 3 Greek public radio employees got injured in a clash with Police in front of Parliament, during today\’s strike
http://www.thegreekradio.com/node/2879
on Sep 16th, 2011 at 12:08
Were these 19 regional stations separate, or does this number include regional studios for a common channel? Because having 19 independent regional stations sounds a little excessive for a country with less inhabitants than Bavaria.
on Sep 16th, 2011 at 22:55
These 19 regional stations were separate channels indeed. Though, comparison with Bavaria may not be as simple as comparing the number of their inhabitants. Although the two countries have the roughly the same population, Greece has double the surface of it, whereas 20% of it is scattered in the sea, whereas the population is not so well-connected.
The country has been traditionally divided into 54 prefectures; each prefecture has its own economic life, its own radio landscape and its own unique radio stations, with pretty much no overlap with nearby areas (apart from 2 exceptions). Driving to nearby prefectures takes one hour, but travelling between two distant prefecture capitals may take up to two days.
According to the statistics issued by radiofono.gr, the total number of radio stations on air, including private and public ones is around 1400. These stations are based on 160 different cities, towns and villages. I guess nothing to compare to Bavaria, so far.
So, going back to the public regional stations; it\’s 19 of them, covering more than one prefectures each, but I wouldn\’t say that they are very successful in approaching the audience of cities, other than the one\’s they are based on. 6 of them are on distant islands. Each station has about 15-25 people staff, who also contribute with reports and technical support to the radio services of Athens.
I don\’t know. I have the feeling that given the radio situation in Greece these 19 stations are too few. Or at least that it was a good effort to get some local coverage.
on Dec 9th, 2011 at 03:46
Radio resession goes further in Greece. One of the radio ceased operation after transmitter stolen amid huge debt.
http://www.thegreekradio.com/node/2976