The National Council for Electronic Mass Media (NEPLP) informed LETA that ReTV and TV4 will continue free terrestrial broadcasting for the next two years.
NEPLP organized a competition for commercial TV broadcasters for three free terrestrial broadcasting slots, which was won by Re Media with ReTV and 4.vara with TV4, while no applications were received for the third free slot and a tender will be organized repeatedly in the near future, NEPLP said.
According to firmas.lv, Re Media is owned by Jurgis Abele and in 2023 the company had a turnover of EUR 555,000 and a profit of less than EUR 2,400.
The largest owner of 4.vara is Swedish Silver Spring Media (79.99 percent), while 12.52 percent belong to Kristaps Zalitis through LZI, and 7.49 percent to Arturs Vaskis through AV Management. In 2023, the company had a turnover of almost EUR 5.3 million and a profit of EUR 272,000.
In addition to the public service television channels LTV1 and LTV7, the commercial television channels ReTV and TV4 have been granted the right to broadcast their programs free of charge from January 1, 2025, until December 31, 2026.
Ieva Kalderauska, member of the NEPLP, said that the winning channels provide a wide variety of local, mainly Latvian, original content on a daily basis.
Free terrestrial broadcasting is financed by NEPLP to ensure that local content is provided throughout the territory of Latvia, including to groups of people who cannot afford pay TV services.
Source: BNS
(Reproduction of BNS information in mass media and other websites without written consent of BNS is prohibited.)