“EKKOMED” DOSSIER: 105 million euros to national stations and zero for those the state refuses to license!
One hundred and five million euros. This is the amount that the Hellenic Center for Motion Pictures, Audiovisual Media and Creation (EKKOMED) is allocating this year for the support of οπτικοακουστικών παραγωγών.
Out of these, 20 million go directly to only six national television stations, while for the rest of the country’s channels—thematic, specialized, regional—the amount corresponding to their television productions is zero.
The legal trick of the JMD
The Joint Ministerial Decision (JMD) 51146/2025, which determines the allocation of EKKOMED resources for the CRGR-FTV aid status, is legally crafted with precision. For Action A—the one concerning TV channels—beneficiaries are explicitly defined as “large enterprises, licensed based on Law 4339/2015, providers of free-to-air national digital terrestrial television content.” Two key words: “Licensed” and “national range.” With two words, the entire rest of the television sector is excluded.
The elephant in the room: Who didn’t give the licenses?
Here the story starts to get interesting. Regional channels do not operate without a license because they didn’t want to be licensed. They operate under a special status of legal operation, as they are registered in a special ESR (National Council for Radio and Television) registry, fully controlled and supervised, because the Greek state, for at least 20 consecutive years, failed to complete their licensing process.
This status was publicly admitted by the government spokesperson himself, Pavlos Marinakis, in August 2025: “We aspire to bring order to the licensing landscape of regional channels, which was unregulated for over 20 years.”
Obligations without rights
The paradox is deafening. Regional channels under legal operation status are obliged:
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To fully pay all tax and insurance obligations.
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To comply with all broadcasting legislation, including the European AVMS Directive (2018/1808).
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To be subject to full supervision and controls by the ESR.
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To maintain a full program, employees, and technical facilities.
At the same time, due to the same absence of a formal license—which the state did not grant—they are completely excluded from public funds to which they contribute as tax-paying businesses.
The “Six” and the organized advantage
According to industry information, the channels themselves proposed a cap of 4 million per station, precisely to avoid competition from production companies. The result? For 2025, a large part of the 4 million corresponding to channels like Star, Open, and SKAI is expected to remain unallocated, as none of them have active fiction productions.
The constitutional question
Legal circles point out that this exclusion raises serious issues of constitutional compatibility. The principle of equality (Article 4) prohibits the radically different treatment of similar situations without objective justification. Can the state use a legal situation—the absence of a license in this case—which it created and maintained for decades as a criterion for exclusion?
State inertia cannot be turned into a legal disadvantage for the citizens. Furthermore, since part of the EKKOMED resources comes from NSRF (ESPA) funds, this selective allocation to only six national channels may raise issues with the European Commission.
TO PARON
