Media Ownership Returns To Polish Sources

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Andrzej Duda, the President of Poland has vetoed the bill regarding the US company Discovery to give up its controlling share in Polish TV network TVN. 

The bill passed in parliament has invited a lot of controversy due to the pressure from the US. Andrzej Duda shared that he decided to veto against the bill as this will spoil the reputation of Poland as a place to do business and also it is unpopular amongst the local people. Also, he said that it is important for Poland to be seen as an honourable partner with its allies. The US government has raised pressure on Andrzej Duda over this bill.

This bill which was passed by the lower house of parliament, restricts non-European companies from owning more than a 49 percent stake in television or radio broadcasters in Poland. The immediate and direct impact of this bill would be on Discovery Inc., as this would force the US owner of Poland’s largest private television network, TVN, to sell the majority or even all of its holdings in Poland.

The leaders from the government in Poland pushed in favour of the bill as they understand the involvement of foreign companies can risk national security and sovereignty, therefore they want to avoid any company outside of Europe to take control of companies which help form public opinion.

Recently many mass protests were held in support of the station and for the freedom of speech in general. The investments made Discovery was the largest ever done by an American company in Poland and they put TVN's value at $3 billion (€2.65).

It is worth noting that for the amount of investments, they have made, now, they threaten to sue Poland in an international arbitration court, for the amount of investments they have made vowing to fight for its investment.

As per the earlier deal, they were first bought by Scripps Networks, US company for $2 billion (€1.7 billion) and later sold to Discovery.

Andrzej Duda also holds the opinion of limited ownership of foreign companies in media companies just like other countries like the United States, France and Germany. He also commented that introduction of the bill at this time will affect the existing business already functional in Poland.

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