From January this year, the National Broadcasting Council will not transfer new installments of radio and television license fees to Telewizja Polska and almost all public radio stations. The announcement by the National Broadcasting Council stressed that the reason was “the legal chaos in the public broadcasting units caused by the decisions of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage; including those of December 27, 2023 and December 29, 2023, which were adopted in flagrant violation of the law, on the dissolution of public media companies, putting them into liquidation, dismissing their bodies and appointing liquidators.
It was announced that the National Council would prepare “a mechanism for the payment of funds from the revenues of the licence fees to public broadcasting entities placed in liquidation confirmed by a final decision of the registration court”. In the case of public broadcasters whose liquidation has not yet been legally registered in the National Judicial Register, subsequent installments of the TV licence fee are transferred to judicial deposits.
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Daniel Gorgosz, who acts as liquidator of Telewizja Polska, announced legal action against the chairman of the National Broadcasting Council in February. In April, he issued a pre-trial request for payment of overdue license fee revenues together with interest (almost PLN 142 million at the time).
Gorgosz also challenged the National Council’s decision on the transfer of subscription money to the court deposit. At the end of May, the Provincial Administrative Court rejected this claim, stressing that, according to the position of the National Broadcasting Council, “the method of disbursement of funds for the execution of a public mission through a court deposit is exclusively the so-called material and technical activity for which no claim can be filed with the administrative court.
However, in May and June, district courts refused to accept new installments of radio and television license fees for some public broadcasters as deposits. In the case of TV, it was PLN 23.56 million in June.
TVP did not receive almost PLN 200 million
Tomasz Sygut, general director of Telewizja Polska, told “Gazeta Wyborcza” that Currently, the sum of subscription funds that the issuer has not received this year amounts to PLN 198.4 million. The total subscription amount for 2024 is set at PLN 316 million.
– The National Council should transfer this money to us successively in agreed amounts. Unfortunately, Mr. Świrski is blocking this money and breaking the law – Sygut emphasized.
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Earlier this year, before the public broadcasters received the first amount from the budget reserve, Telewizja Polska was only paying invoices for amounts up to PLN 25,000. zloty. Tomasz Sygut stresses that these were payments only to external entities. – Paying our employees and collaborators is a top priority. We do everything we can to make sure they reach your account on time. Without them, our company will fail. – he admitted.
The manager added that Due to financial liquidity problems, even important sports broadcasts were at risk– I remember dramatic conversations with the UEF (European Football Association – note) about postponing the deadline for payment of the Euro football licence and the specter of losing it… Or a phone call a few hours before the broadcast of the Wales-Poland game, which decided for our team to go to Germany, with the information that if we do not pay the bill there will be no broadcast – he described.
– It’s not a comfortable situation when someone accesses your account and you apologize to someone almost every day for late payments. – Sygut admitted. – But do you know what is encouraging? The reaction of contractors and the entire community associated with public television – patience and full understanding: we know it is not easy for you. We have noticed changes and are pleased that normality has returned to TVP, he noted.
TVP is saved by advertising and budget subsidies
Polish television will no longer receive subscription compensation in the form of state treasury bonds this year (last year it received a nominal amount of PLN 2.35 billion in this form), because the law on this matter was vetoed by President Andrzej Duda.
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The state supports public media in another way: funds from the budget reserve. At the end of February, TVP, Polish Radio and regional public radio stations received PLN 250 million, and a month later the broadcasters requested another PLN 1.5 billion. As we have already reported, they received PLN 600 million in May and PLN 425 million in June (of which PLN 480 and PLN 320 million respectively went to TVP).
This does not mean that Telewizja Polska can settle all payments continuously. Tomasz Sygut admitted that the company’s current liabilities amount to PLN 236 million. – External contractors, producers, ZAiKS, ZASP, STOART, ZPAV, contributions to international organizations such as the EBU – he listed.
– Money for TVP is not just money for employees’ and collaborators’ salaries. It is the entire environment surrounding television, from actors to composers. We are waiting for another grant from the Ministry of Culture, so we will settle these obligations. And we will be in debt again… – admitted the general director of TVP.
The public broadcaster’s financial situation is also being saved by higher-than-expected advertising revenues. In early May, Telewizja Polska paid a 5% bonus to employees employed under the time-bonus system. It explained that the bonus was granted “due to the effective performance of the Advertising Office and the increase in commercial revenues in the first quarter of 2024 (compared to the same period in 2023)”.
A few days ago, the broadcaster announced that it generated PLN 22.5 million in revenue from advertising, sponsorships and atypical campaigns during the broadcast of the Paris Olympic Games. This is more than double the amount from the games held in mid-2021.
– However, it is not normal for a public broadcaster to survive on commercial revenues. In this context, one can see how harmful Mr. Świrski’s behavior is, Tomasz Sygut noted.
“There was no consideration for money”
Polish television is also trying to save money. This spring it reorganized its structure. – We eliminated 17 management positions, which resulted in annual savings of PLN 5 million. Reducing the number of managers means further savings – approximately PLN 3.5 million. Eliminating management consultant positions will generate another PLN 2 million annually, Tomasz Sygut calculated.
In his opinion The broadcaster’s financial policy is currently completely different from that during the PiS government, when “billions were wasted, and practically no zloty was invested in the technology in Woronicza, in transmission units, in broadcast vehicles, cameras or a fleet of cars (140 vehicles qualify for replacement), as well as in equipmentstarting with the LED lights and walls, which still need to be rented from external companies.
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– Money was not taken into account. An episode of a series worth more than PLN 4 million? Here you go. I’m paying the price for it todaybecause I send these producers away and then I read that TVP is a real estate agency and Sygut is useless – said the manager.
He stressed that TVP under his leadership could not afford extravagances. – I cannot afford terribly expensive projects, buy a sports license with the risk of a lack of funds of almost PLN 200 million indicated by the controller, to act as an intermediary for a company that earned more than PLN 55 million in 2020-23 by organizing concerts for TVP and after Kurski’s departure disappeared from TVP – he calculated.
