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ERT crisis timeline:

11 June - Greek government announces immediate closure of ERT at midnight. Greek TV screens go black. Staff and citizens launch protests as 2,700 staff lose their jobs. EBU leadership urges Greek PM to retract the decision.

12 June - Eurovision news point established outside ERT. ERT staff continue producing news, which is transmitted by the EBU’s satellite news gathering (SNG) and EBU earth station to EBU HQ, Geneva. EBU streams NET’s signal on its website, bringing a huge spike in visitors. EBU leadership invites Member DGs to sign joint statement.

13 June - EBU president writes to European Commission President Barroso calling for a stronger stance on ERT’s closure. EBU implements workaround to allow satellite subscribers worldwide to access NET on television. EBU launches online petition which garners thousands of names in a few hours. EBU leaders head to Athens for talks with ERT executives and stakeholders.

The signatories (complete list below) , which include the directors general of all of Europe’s most important public service media organizations, universally condemn the Greek government’s “undemocratic and unprofessional” course of action, which “undermines the existence of public service media in Greece”.

The statement, to which the directors general, presidents and chief executive officers, as well as several heads of international relations, have put their names, reads as follows:

ERT MUST BE RESTORED TO AIR!

“We, as Directors General of Europe’s public broadcasters, express our profound dismay at the action taken by the Greek Government on Tuesday, 11 June in shutting down ERT with immediate effect.

This undemocratic and unprofessional action of the Greek government undermines the existence of public service media in Greece and its independence from the government.

For that reason, we strongly urge the Greek Prime Minister to immediately reverse this decision, allowing ERT to go back on the air in Greece and we wholeheartedly support the open letter sent by the EBU President and Director General on 11 June 2013.”

Having collected the signatures in less than 24 hours, the EBU leadership has now sent the document to the Greek Government in a second letter urging Prime Minister Antonis Samaras to revoke the closure decree, while in addition appealing for at least one ERT TV channel to be left on air.

On Tuesday evening (June 11) EBU President Jean-Paul Philippot and Director General Ingrid Deltenre wrote an open letter to Mr Samaras urging him to see sense and pointing out that “public service media and their independence from Government lie at the heart of democratic societies”.

The move followed an emergency EBU Executive Board session held on Wednesday.

For more information:

Michelle Roverelli
Head of Communications
roverelli@ebu.ch
T +41 22 717 2204
M +41 79 647 1724

Complete list of signatories

Chabane Lounakel	Directeur General	Radio Algérienne	Algeria
Margarita Grigoryan	Executive Director	Armenian Public Television	Armenia
Alexander Wrabetz	Director General	ORF	Austria
Bernadette Wynanats	President	RTBF	Belgium
Sandra De Preter	Director General	VRT	Belgium
Radoslav Yankulov	Director General	BNR	Bulgaria
Vyara Ankova	Director General	BNT	Bulgaria
Goran Radman	Director General	HRT	Croatia
Themis Themistocleous	Director General	CyBC	Cyprus
Petr Dvorak	Director General	Czech Television	Czech Republic
Peter Duhan	Director General	Czech Radio	Czech Republic
Maria Rørbye Rønn	Director General/CEO	DR	Denmark
Margus Allikmaa	Director General	ERR	Estonia
Lauri Kivinen	Chief Executive Officer	Yle	Finland
Rémy Pflimlin	Président Directeur Général	France Télévisions	France
Jean-Luc Hees	Président Directeur Général	Radio France	France
Marie-Christine Saragosse	Présidente Directrice Générale	Radio France Internationale	France
George Baratashvili	General Director	Georgian Public Broadcaster	Georgia
Ulrich Wilhelm	Director General	BR/ARD	Germany
Dr Thomas Bellut	Director General	ZDF	Germany
István Jónás	Chief Executive Officer	Hungarian Radio	Hungary
Balazs MEDVECZKY	Director General	MTV	Hungary
Páll Magnússon	Director General	RUV	Iceland
Pól ó Gallchóir	Director General	TG4	Ireland
Noel Curran	Director General	RTÉ	Ireland
Anna Maria Tarantola / Luigi Gubitosi	President / Director General	RAI	Italia
Ibrahim EL Khoury	President Director General	Télé-Liban	Lebanon
Fernand Weides	Directeur Radio	ERSL	Luxembourg
Constantin Marin	President	Teleradio Moldova	Moldova
Rade Vojvodic	Director General	RTCG	Montenegro
Faïçal Laraïchi	Président Directeur Général	SNRT	Morocco
Henk Hagoort	Chairman Management Board	NPO	Netherland
Thor Gjermund Eriksen	Director General	NRK	Norway
Alf Hildrum	Chief Executive Officer	TV2	Norway
Andrzej Siezieniewski	President	Polish Radio	Poland
Juliusz Braun	President & CEO	TVP	Poland
Alberto da Ponte	President	RTP	Portugal
Ovidiu Miculescu	President Director General	Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation	Romania
Claudiu Saftoiu	President Director General	TVR	Romania
Oleg Dobrodeev	Director General	RTR	Russia
Konstantin Ernst	Director General	Channel One	Russia
Carlo Romeo	Director General	San Marino RTV	San Marino
Aleksandar Tijanic	Director General	RTS	Serbia
Vaclav Mika	Director General	RTVS	Slovakia
Marko Filli	Director General	RZV	Slovenia
Leopoldo Gonzalez Echenique	Director General	RTVE	Spain
Cilla Benkö	Director General	Swedish Radio	Sweden
Erik Fichtelius	Director General	UR	Sweden
Eva Hamilton	General Director	SVT	Sweden
Gilles Marchand	Directeur	RTS	Switzerland
Roger de Weck	Directeur General	SRG SSR	Switzerland
Imen Bahroun Ben Mrad	Présidente Directrice Générale	Télévision Tunisienne	Tunisia
Tony Hall	Director General	BBC	United Kingdom
Oleksandr Panteleimonov	Acting Director General	NTU	Ukraine
Taras Avrakhov	Director General	National Radio Company	Ukraine
Federico Lombardi S.I.	General Director	Vatican Radio	Vatican City State