After the withdrawal on Monday of businessman Ioannis Kalogritsas from the process for awarding four nationwide TV content broadcasting licences, Dimera Media Ltd, the company of Ivan Savvidis, in next in line for a licence, followed by Alpha, the company of Dimitris Kontominas.
Savvidis’ highest bid during the auction stage of the process was 61.5 million euros, while Alpha bid 61 million euros.
In a statement, Savvidis said: “We are ready to pay the first installment in two or three days.”
Kalogritsas, one of the initial four successful bidders in an auction held earlier in September, on Monday announced that he would withdraw from the next stage in the process “for reasons that everyone is aware of.” The company’s bid and the provenance of its funds had come under intense media scrutiny in the weeks following the auction.
He underlined that he will protect himself and his family “although he spent 3 million euros for the letter of guarantee.”
Earlier in the day, the firm Ioannis-Vladimiros H. Kalogritsas sent a letter to the General Secretariat for News and Communication asking for a 48-hour extension in order to pay the first installment of the amount for the TV licence.
The General Secretariat for News and Communication replied: “According to the term 8.4 of the tender, the first installment of the total sum is paid within fifteen days following the announcement of the highest bidders. Therefore the above deadline is a sine qua non of the tender 1/2016 and cannot be modified. Thus the request cannot be accepted.”
The fourth bidder, Antenna TV paid the first installment of its bid, totaling 25,300,000 euros on Monday. On Friday, Alter Ego, the company established by shipowner Evangelos Marinakis, and SKAI TV paid first installments totaling 24,633,333 euros and 14,533,333 euros, respectively.
New proposals for cooperation
In statements on Monday, Savvidis said he would put new proposals for cooperation to rivals Alpha TV and Star Channel, noting that it would be good if the staff at the channels could keep their jobs. If his offer was refused, Savvidis said he would proceed to set up a television channel from scratch. In order to stay in the running, Savvidis must now submit a statement of wealth for thorough inspection, after which he must make the first payment of 20.5 million euros into state coffers within 15 days.
In a tweet about the latest developments in the tender process, Minister of State Nikos Pappas noted that 65 million euros had already been paid and that the process included several failsafes.
General Secretary Lefteris Kretsos, who organised the tender process, also noted that this had many stages, with all parties subjected to an in-depth examination of their finances and source of funds. In addition, he pointed to several pending court hearings and lawsuits initiated by various interested parties.
Kretsos noted that the government must protect the public interest in the organisation of the tender process and that the digital signal provider DIGEA must broadcast the signal of legal television stations only.
Regarding the licencing of regional stations, the general secretary said that a map of frequencies must be drawn up, while the regional licences must be given by the Greek National Council for Radio and Television.
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