Open letter
to the authorities of the Republic of Poland
and
leaders of political groups
We would like to address the announced new, additional burden on the media operating on the Polish market, confusingly called the "premium", introduced under the pretext of Covid-19.
It is simply protection money, striking the Polish viewer, listener, reader and internet user, as well as Polish productions, culture, entertainment, sport and the media.
Entering it will mean:
- weakening or even liquidation of some of the media operating in Poland, which will significantly limit the society's ability to choose the content that interests them,
- limiting funding opportunities for qualitative and local content. Their production currently supports hundreds of thousands of employees and their families, and provides most Poles with access to information, entertainment and sports events largely free of charge,
- deepening the unequal treatment of entities operating on the Polish media market, in a situation where the state media receive PLN 2 billion from the pocket of each Pole every year, private media are charged with additional tribute of PLN 1 billion,
- actual favoring of companies that do not invest in creating Polish, local content at the expense of entities that invest the most in Poland. According to estimates, companies referred to by the government as "global digital giants" will pay only about PLN 50 - 100 million for the tribute, compared to PLN 800 million that will be paid by other locally active media.
Scandalous is also the asymmetrical and selective burden on individual companies. Additionally, it is unacceptable in a state ruled by law to try to change the license conditions during their validity period.
As the media operating in Poland for many years, we do not shirk our obligations and social responsibility. Every year, we pay an increasing number of taxes, levies and fees to the state budget (CIT, VAT, emission charges, copyright management organizations, concessions, frequencies, booking decisions, VOD fees, etc.). We also support the weakest groups in our society with our own charity work. We support Poles and the government in the fight against the epidemic, both in terms of information and by allocating resources worth hundreds of millions of zlotys for this purpose.
We strongly oppose the use of the epidemic as an excuse to introduce another, new, exceptionally heavy burden on the media. A persistent workload that will survive the Covid-19 epidemic.
Signatories of the letter
AGARD Publishing Agency Ryszard Pajura
Agora S.A.
AMS S.A.
Bonnier Business
Burda Media Polska
CANAL +
Official Stand
Eastern Journal
Edipresse Polska
Eleven Sports Network sp.z o.o.
Gazeta Radomszczańska
Gazeta Żoliborza
Green Content sp. Z o.o.
Gremi Media S.A.
Eurozet Group
Grupa Interia.pl sp.z. O.o.
Agory Radio Group sp.z o.o.
RMF Group
Wirtualna Polska Group
Grupa ZPR
Helios S.A.
Infor Biznes
Kino Polska TV S.A.
Lemon Records sp.z o.o.
Marshal Academy
Music TV sp. Z o.o.
Muzo.fm sp. Z o.o.
naTemat.pl
OKO.press
Politics
Polska Press Group
Ringier Axel Springer Polska
STAVKA sp. Z o.o.
Superstacja sp. Z o.o.
Telewizja Polsat sp.z o.o.
Telewizja Puls sp.z o.o.
Regional Television TVT
TIME S.A.
TV Spektrum sp. Z o.o.
TVN S.A.
Weekly magazine of the Wołowski Poviat Kurier Gmin
Tygodnik Powszechny
Bauer Publishing House
Dominik Księski Wulkan Publishing House
Magraf Publishing House
Nowiny Publishing House
Zakopane Economic Society - Tygodnik Podhalański
