Television business owners sent a protest letter to State Minister Nikos Pappas following a government decision for them to pay 40 million euros in retroactive frequencies from 2011 onwards.

The debt in question concerns an annual 2% mandatory fee for TV channels based on their gross revenues.

The government on Thursday calculated that private TV channels owe 24.15 million euros to the Greek State for 2011-2014 and pay-TV channels OTE and Multichoice Hellas have to pay 16.32 million euros for the years from 2012-2014.

The government states that operating licenses were granted to TV businesses on condition that each company pay the state a minimum annual fee for the use of some radio frequences.

In response, a letter  signed by the Union of Private Television Channels of National Coverage (EITISEE), was sent to Pappas claiming that TV business owners had provided airspace to partners for elections (two rounds of national elections in 2012, Euroelections in 2014 and national elections in 2015). They had never been reimbursed for these services worth 24.17 million euros.

Furthermore, TV businesses state that the stations did not have access to the frequences that had been given to the network providers from 2012 onwards.