From ERT Now EDT - Greek Public Television Back on Air


By Hellas Frappe on 11.7.13

The Greek Public Television channel (EDT) went back on air, late on July 10, one month after the state broadcaster was shut down. A backdrop reading Greek Public Television and featuring a globe and coloured waves was being broadcast on the main digital frequencies formerly occupied by ERT. Later, the broadcaster screened an old Greek movie.

Deputy Minister for Public Radio and Television Pantelis Kapsis said this was a transitional stage, until new staff is hired for a new public television service to start running in the autumn. He added that the signal is being broadcast from a studio, and that initially the programme will include feature films and documentaries, while the latest news headlines will be viewed in a ticker at the bottom of the television screen.

He also said job openings for staff would be posted soon in order for the regular programme to start. "There will be an open call to journalists," Kapsis said. In announcement on July 9, former ERT employees -who have taken over the station's headquarters- condemned every "attempt to illegally transmit anything outside ERT's main or regional facilities."
    "The government will not stay hostage to the unionists who at this point remain at the Aghia Paraskevi premises," Kapsis told private television station Mega, referring to the ERT headquarters.
The minister expressed his disappointment at the former employees' occupation of the facilities, as he said almost all their demands have been met.
     "We have essentially resolved all issues raised, all of them. I know there is disagreement over two-month contracts, but that cannot be resolved. But all the rest was resolved," Kapsis said, naming the compensation for layoffs, incentives for those wishing to go on early retirement, bonuses for laid-off staff and the hiring of 2,000 as staff from the former ERT to the transitional agency."
Responding to charges about the government's emitting a signal illegally, he said, "Is the public pirating itself? Whom does public television belong to? Is it a responsibility of the government and the state, or not? Employees have every right to react and I fully respect their union struggles, but that's one thing; it's another to occupy ERT's assets and forbid the regular transmission from the public agency."

The three channels of former ERT (ET1, NET and ET3) started broadcasting late on Wednesday night with a Greek comedy at 9:00 a.m., a film bought in the open market. The program continued with documentaries, breaking overnight and restarting Thursday morning with a children's show.

The program of the transitional channel called Greek Public Television (DT) began transmitting its logo on the shutdown ERT public broadcaster frequencies on Wednesday morning.