Greece’s new public service broadcaster is on air

Greece’s new public broadcaster has officially begun news transmissions, two months after the closure of its predecessor ERT, a move that drew strong international and EBU criticism.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), at the forefront of the protests, reported that the new interim public broadcaster has already recruited approximately 600 staff, with a further 1,400 to follow once ERT’s permanent replacement NERIT is established in the next few months.

The EBU said in a statement that the existence of the news service, as well as “encouraging signs that Greek’s new public broadcaster is in creation” led the Union  to cease streaming the satellite signal which was being produced by journalists who worked for ERT, the former Greek broadcaster, prior to its dissolution in June.

It is expected that new members of the Supervisory Board, appointed to oversee the formation and operation of the new public service broadcaster (NERIT) will meet for the first time this week.  One of their first tasks will be to recruit an executive director and four executive board members for the new national broadcaster by the end of September.

In the meantime, TV executives have pledged to build on their initial programme offerings. The Director of News Vassilis Fomopoulos – who was previously News Director at ERT – says from this coming Monday, the new service will carry four hours of regular, quality news programming each day.