Govt Promises to Relaunch State TV in Weeks
Thursday, 01 January 1970
The government in Athens promised to relaunch the state broadcaster ERT in weeks following protests from journalists, trade unions and coalition partners against its sudden closure, Reuters reported.
A decision for the closedown was taken a month and a half ago and had no relation to the sale of gas firm DEPA or an ongoing visit by EU and IMF lenders in Athens, government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou told Reuters.
The government decided to take ERT off air hours after the announcement over concerns that angered staff would damage the equipment, Kedikoglou said. A new version of ERT will be relaunched by early autumn at the latest, he added.
"We didn't shut down ERT, we temporarily suspended its operations to fix it and make it work on a healthy basis," he said.