The amendment to the Broadcasting Act adopted by the Sejm introduces new conditions for granting licences to foreign entities, requires changes to ownership structures and changes the rules for selecting members of the National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT).
In 2015, the TVN Group was bought by the American company Scripps Networks Interactive, which three years later was acquired by the also American Discovery. TVN is now owned by the Dutch company Polish Television Holding BV, which is dependent on Discovery.
When TVN was bought by the Americans in 2015, the KRRiT found no objections. Later, the council even granted the Americans several licences for additional television channels operated by the TVN group.
The amendment passed by the Sejm now prohibits capital from outside the European Economic Area from holding a majority stake in Polish media. Therefore, the fact that TVN’s direct owner is a Dutch company is irrelevant, because that company is in turn owned by the American Discovery.
Details of the amendment on the website: Lex TVN: what the amendment to the Broadcasting Act passed by the Sejm changes
Bolesławiec MP backed Lex TVN
It was none other than Szymon Pogoda (36), from PiS, who was one of the people to sign the parliamentary bill amending the Broadcasting Act. Naturally, he later voted for the bill.
Szymon Pogoda became an MP after Adam Lipiński, deputy leader of Law and Justice, became deputy president of the National Bank of Poland. Earlier, Pogoda was a PiS councillor on the Bolesławiec City Council and head of the Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture (ARiMR) in Bolesławiec.