Like the Greek state, local media are in poor financial condition too. The first in the list of troubled companies are the private television Alter and the newspaper Eleftherotypia. The losses in the media sector reach € 54 million in total. Advertising revenues fell by almost 30% compared to last year when the Greek media already suffered from low fresh cashflow. Cuts of unnecessary extras and domestic production and abortion of Greek series in the making did not save the situation. Contrary to the measures, operating costs increased by approximately € 27 million, mainly due to the tax increases and the general rise in the cost of living in Greece after the introduction of the "recovery" macroeconomic measures last year.
Stuck in loans and with reduced revenues from advertisements, the Greek media are struggling with the lack of market liquidity by any means. In the summer of 2011, Alter could not resist the financial pressure and had to resort to the law for bankruptcy protection, known as Article 99. The television has accumulated debts to public and private lenders in the amount of half a billion euro, and most of its employees have not received their remunerations for six months. The crisis in Alter dragged a few advertising agencies that bet heavily on the television company, but failed to take their money from it.
Eleftherotypia, which is also greatly indebted, plans 40% cuts in spending and dismissal of at least 300 people. Of course, here comes the question "What are around 400 staff employees and external collaborators doing in a daily and Sunday newspaper?". The working unions required details of the financial situation of the media, but none have been submitted so far. At the same time, the management of the publishing group is trying to take a new bank loan to cover the old debts and current needs. However, it is not yet known whether and how much it will receive and how this decision will contribute to the rescue of one of the oldest newspapers in Greece.
The situation in other media is almost the same, taking into account that newspapers such as Vima, Ta Nea, Imerisia and Ethnos also have financial problems. Media analysts forecast market implosion, after newspapers and other informational publications in Greece permanently increased their numbers for years without a significant change in the reading audience. Only Naftemporiki registered growth for the third quarter of this year and it is largely due to the online edition of the daily newspaper
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