Polskie Radio wants TPSA contract
At the beginning of September just before the consortium of France Telecom and Kulczyk Holding took a further 12.5 percent stake in TPSA, public television TVP signed a contract with the former monopoly operator extending use of its antennas to relay TV signals for the next twenty years. Polskie Radio did not sign such a contract.
It is not known how much Polskie Radio pays for using antennae belonging to TPSA although public radio allows a larger slice of its budget than companies in France and the United Kingdom. In Wrocław alone payment for use of antennae took fifty percent of the budget.
This problem arose when TPSA was privatised and its antennae ceased to belong to the state. As it controls most antennae in the country it is in a virtual monopoly situation.
Media authorities have attempted to get the treasury to take the antennae back for some time without success. One proposal was to reduce the price of shares slightly in order to regain the antennae. However the treasury needed as much money as possible and so discounted this option.
TPSA is unlikely to pull the plug on public radio. However it can demand almost whatever it wants for use of its facilities in the knowledge that there are no competitors.