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On the occasion of the first year of operation of the renewed state television, PASOK lawmaker Odysseas Konstantinopoulos described the product proposed by ERT as too expensive for citizens, based on the weak results it shows in terms of rating.

According to Odysseas Konstantinopoulos, indicative is the fact that 96.4% of the total estimated revenue of the television (or 177 million euro from 183.65 million euro) are coming from the taxes paid by the citizens.

In particular, in a question addressed to the responsible Minister Nikos Papas, the PASOK MP said, "Unfortunately, despite the government statements, citizens are not satisfied with what the government presents as an independent state television." "The results are poor and viewing rates very low because in practice ERT is used as a crutch of the government. However, the final product is very expensive, 2.7 million euro was paid for overtime in 2015 alone, and only within six months" the MP is indignant.
 
"It is clear that despite the expectations created by the relevant government statements, in 2015 ERT did not meet the needs of the Greek television audience, neither in terms of information nor of entertainment. Therefore, citizens are paying a tax with no return for something that the majority of them do not watch," underlines the PASOK MP.

As explained by Odysseas Konstantinopoulos, "across Europe advertising costs are allocated based on the rating measurements carried out mainly among the most active audience - from 15 to 44 year olds. In this audience, the rating of ERT is low to negligible, namely 3.6% for ΕRΤ1 and 1% for ΕRΤ2. For other TV channels this rate is 16.2% for ΑΝΤ1, 16% for Alpha, 14.6% for MEGA, 11% for STAR, 6.9% for SKAI, 3.4% for Ε" (source: Nielsen audience measurement). Simultaneously, the share of advertising expenditure allocated to the state television is apparently insignificant - it does not even appear on the page. ERT obviously needs no advertisements since taxpayers are paying.

The total advertising spending in Greece in January-November 2015 amounted to 650,870,000 euro (329,061,000 euro for the television) and estimates for 2016 are that they will amount to 651.2 million euro.

Against this background, Odysseas Konstantinopoulos asks Minister Nikos Papas:

1. What exactly is the amount of ERT revenue from advertisements for 2015?

2. How many people are employed at ERT on the pay roll or with a contract for services?

3. Will assessment be made of the data, and mainly of the ERT management because of the poor results?

4. What initiatives will the government undertake to reverse this negative trend?