November 2023, and in this column we were writing about the problems with digital television. The conclusion: "If the state wants to proceed with a tender, let it do so. As long as it has the resistance to withstand this or that channel owner and the process can function properly. But does it?" Nobody ever answered us. Nobody. Almost three years later, we answer ourselves. No. Nope. Nyet. Hayır.
The story of digital television in Cyprus is a case study in how, in this country, the word responsibility became an unknown word, and how the explosive combination of the unaccountable public official and the politician who yields to interventions leads to a classic case of malfunction.
The 2011 transition
In 2011, when the switch was made from analogue to digital signal, it was a political decision (with... interference from the channels) that all stations should become island-wide, with the result that some ten channels were driven to closure, on the assumption that the advertising pie would go to those remaining. (The European directive said digital would bring more channels. What, the ones from Chlorakas? Those!)
Then the wise men decided to hold a tender for the channels' transmission signal without any study, as it turned out, since they failed to factor in the channel owners' obsession with getting hold of the platform, which sent the bidding up to 10 million, turning the whole affair into a fiasco, since it was a given that the exorbitant sum could never be paid to the state.
Nikaros, Velister and the De Minimis
Then Nikaros heard about it constantly from the channel owners, as the big players and owners of Velister went to him asking that he gift them 5-6 million so Velister could survive (leaning, perhaps not unfairly, on the argument that the state was to blame for reaching the 10 million), while the small players asked for a De Minimis grant, the one given directly by the state without passing through parliamentary approval. That one! And they got it, naturally, of course, because if Extra does not broadcast "Zouzounia", how will pluralism be preserved in this land?
After Nikaros gifted them 2.5 million, Velister's problems were not solved (it admitted to 15 million in debts to creditors) and they landed in front of Nikoudi. The Velister channel owners asked to be given the platform for 15 years, for us to say thank you as well, like Simitis to the Americans over Imia, and to hand them 2-3 million in grants on top. The deputy ministry put its foot down. What happened? The deputy minister left. Well, what did you expect? Are we playing games? And so Hellas Sat arrived as the saviour to rescue the situation, making an informal agreement with the Velister channel owners to take over the platform. A tender was held, of course. Who else took part? Nobody!
Fast track to the same ending
After that, everything moved at fast-track speed: the channel owners who wanted rid of the burden were relieved of the platform, Hellas Sat took the project, and the state (once again), as it turned out, conducted no study, nor did anyone ever look at the Statistical Service, which says we are technologically illiterate, in order to provide for parallel HD/SD transmission so that problems would not arise. And so the state was trapped, yet again, in one company's obsession with a stronger signal, without doing anything. Naturally, the company looks, rightly, to its own interest. What we see once more, however, is that the problem is not whether our picture will be HD or SD. The problem is that the state continues to operate in low resolution, and that is because decisions continue to be taken on the basis of pressure instead of proper planning. And as long as nobody is held accountable for the fiascos, every new "transition" ends in the same script. Only now we watch it in High Definition.
