A hefty bill towards television stations in the country, unveiled on Thursday by the government, generated a cascade of reactions a day later, with the former saying they’ve covered the charge via free airtime allocated to political parties during campaign periods.

According to the new government, the companies operating television stations with nationwide broadcast licenses owe 24.1 million euros, while two subscriber platforms owe 16.6 million euros.

Conversely, representatives of the companies pointed to a 2002 law which gives political parties free “prime time” exposure as an offset to the 2-percent duty – calculated on gross revenues — owed for the licenses.

Nevertheless, the government later on Thursday utilized its ever-popular way of deflecting the broadcasters’ argument – a “non-paper” – countering that there is no provision foreseeing the offset of the duty.

The government’s position, unofficially expressed on Thursday evening, is that the duty is re-calculated and collected on a yearly basis, while saying the last time such provision was in force was in 2010.