Our View: Deputies’ interference on digital platform could cost the state dear

IN THE PAST, before we joined the EU, there were many types of state-sponsored protectionism that nobody challenged. The law could be changed or, even worse, ignored in order to benefit a specific organisation or company. With EU membership such practices have been phased out, even though the authorities, backed by the political parties, occasionally revert to the old habits.
In 2007, when Cyprus was already a member of the EU, the legislature passed a law giving exclusive rights to supply the island with natural gas to a single company owned by the state and the Electricity Authority. The law was challenged in the Supreme Court for being in violation of competition, but no ruling has been issued yet.
The tender procedure for the second digital platform, which was won by Velister, the consortium of the private television stations, seems set to end up in the courts as well. Rival bidder, LRG has reported the procedure to the European Commission, claiming there had been “manifest violations of EU anti-trust laws.” In a letter to the relevant EU body, LRG claims there was a cartel of broadcasters and accused the Telecommunications Regulator of not handling the auction fairly.
LRG’s lawyers have reported the intervention in the procedure by the politicians who wanted to bar CyTA from bidding for the platform and eventually passed a law obliging it to go into partnership with another entity, in order to take part in the auction. Had the private stations used their dominant position and their ability to influence politicians to prevent new players from entering the broadcasting sector, as the lawyers claimed in the letter? Should the regulator have allowed the auction to take place after all these shenanigans?
If there is one organisation that should have filed an official complaint about the procedure, it is CyTA, but then again it was not prepared to bid as high for the platform as LRG and Velister – it dropped out when the bidding had reached €4 million. But in the end, despite all the shenanigans and attempts by some politicians to help the private TV stations, by attempting excluding CyTA, the highest bidder secured the digital platform. Market forces prevented CyTA from securing the digital platform and there was no need for the deputies’ intervention.
It would be grossly unfair if the government, which did not intervene in the procedure at any point, is fined by the Commission because of certain deputies’ desire to ingratiate themselves to the TV station owners.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.