During the last meeting, the TVP programme board discussed the draft programme correction and financial plans of projects in the implementation of the public mission for 2025 specified in the Letter of Obligations of Telewizja Polska SA in liquidation for the years 2025-2029. The body established by the votes of the National Council for Media, dominated by Law and Justice, issued a negative opinion on the document of July 17, 2024. It is a business secret, which is why the members of the Programme Board do not want to share its contents.
“Political malice towards the hated board of directors”
Representatives of the program’s board, who are closer to the current ruling camp, are surprised by the body’s decision. – These were small, completely formal matters, without any meaning. This decision had no substantive nature and was merely political malice towards the hated management. These changes were minor corrections, made in accordance with the expectations of the National Broadcasting Council – assures Wirtualnemedia.pl Krzysztof Luft, member of the TVP programme council, and since April also consultant to TVP general director Tomasz Sygut.
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Another member of the TVP program board speaks in a similar tone. – They were very small technical changes, following the recommendations of the National Broadcasting Council in programs outside of TVP’s main channels. And the vote of the majority of the program council, which consists of prominent PiS members or supporters of this party, took place on the basis of “no, because no” and – surprisingly – contrary to the indications of the PiS National Broadcasting Council, in which – as we know – only Prof. Tadeusz Kowalski is a representative in the Senate – reports Janusz Daszczyński, president of TVP in the second half of 2015.
“All documents assume the settlement of three channels”
The chairman of the TVP program board says that the majority of the committee could not have voted differently. – The cosmetics that Krzysztof Luft talks about are related, among others, to the liquidation of three channels: TVP Historia, TVP Document and TVP Nauka. Such actions are unacceptable for the majority of the members of the Program Council – explains Wojciech Skurkiewicz, Senator for Law and Justice, in an interview with Wirtualnemedia.pl.
Has there been any new information or circumstances related to the liquidation of the station? – All documents processed by the Council for 2025 assume the liquidation of these three channels – Skurkiewicz replies.
In April, Telewizja Polska liquidator Daniel Gorgosz sent the draft Charter of Duties for 2025-2029 to the head of the National Broadcasting Council. According to the document, 7 channels with unsatisfactory audience figures will be eliminated. – It is proposed to reduce the number of specialised programmes on seven channels, consolidating three of them (Historia, Ciência, Documento) into a single programme (TVP Wiedza), resulting from the transformation of TVP História and complementing its offer with elements of the existing TVP Documento and TVP Ciência programmes, as well as to liquidate five other programmes (three of them online channels): Cultura 2, História 2, ABC2, Mulher, Alfa. This proposal is a result of the ongoing restructuring of TVP, within the framework of which it is advisable to discontinue unprofitable activities that do not bring significant public value – the liquidator of TVP wrote in the draft. The draft Charter of Duties must be approved by the National Broadcasting Council.
Although the number of the public broadcaster’s themed stations is to be reduced, the document shows that TVP 4K will return. Estimated costs published in the draft Tax Charter show that the channel will cost PLN 36.4 million annually in 2025-2029. – TVP 4K is a sports, film and entertainment program. The program contains programs available in 4K standard and is created and distributed in this standard as appropriate content becomes available. Main genres: sports broadcasts and reports, feature films and entertainment programs – we read in the project.
TVP holds record among EU public broadcasters
Telewizja Polska’s portfolio includes: TVP1, TVP2, TVP3, TVP Info, TVP Kultura, TVP Kultura 2, TVP Mieszka, TVP Sport, TVP Historia, TVP Historia 2, TVP ABC, TVP ABC 2, Alfa TVP, TVP Document, TVP Nauka, TVP Polonia, TVP Rozrywka, TVP Seriale, TVP HD, TVP World, TVP Wilno and Belsat. This is a total of 22 channels (not including all TVP3 versions). The largest among the public broadcasters in the European Union.
The European Audiovisual Observatory ranking shows that Telewizja Polska, with 39 channels in its portfolio, ranks 14th across the continent. Among public broadcasters, only the BBC broadcasts more stations, but most of them are commercial projects aimed at viewers outside the UK, such as BBC Earth, BBC Brit, BBC Lifestyle, BBC Cbeebies.
The Polish public broadcaster does not intend to give up channels with large audiences, for example TVP HD or TVP Seriale. In the draft Charter of Duties, the merger of documentary channels is explained by their results.
– The consolidation of the programs TVP História, TVP Documento and TVP Nauka is also justified by the relatively low participation of these programs.i.e. TVP Document – 0.22 percent in 2023, TVP Nauka – 0.17 percent in 2023. At the same time, it is clear that the share of the TVP História programme, which is larger, is decreasing (0.63% in 2022, 0.52% in 2023, 0.47% – 01-04 2024), which may be partly due to the Documentary and Science competition. In this situation, it is proposed to consolidate these three specialist programmes into the TVP Wiedza programme, created as a result of the transformation of TVP Historia, and to supplement its offer with elements from the existing TVP Document and TVP Nauka programmes. This will allow us to maintain the value of the existing programmes and at the same time increase the amount of non-repetitive content in a given programme (TVP Wiedza) – we read in the minutes of the TVP liquidator.
