At the KIT Commission meeting, where the balance sheet and accounts of TÜRKSAT were discussed, it was discussed that the satellite rents received from television channels in dollars should be converted into Turkish Lira and prices should be reduced. MHP and AK Party deputies also supported the proposal brought to the agenda by Republican People's Party (CHP) İzmir Deputy Atila Sertel, saying that especially local televisions should be supported.
Atila Sertel, a Republican People's Party (CHP) İzmir Deputy and member of the KİT Commission, stated that local channels were struggling to survive and said, “At a time when satellite rents are in dollars and the minimum monthly rent is 80 thousand liras, rental prices should be reduced to an affordable level so that local televisions can live. " said.
DRAW TO PAYABLE LEVEL
Atila Sertel stated that local television owners are worried that there will be an increase in satellite rents once the dollar rate exceeds 17 liras.
“In your introductory speech, you said that the number of televisions broadcasting from satellites is 502, and the number of radios is 206. The common complaint of all of them, especially in these local televisions, is the high satellite rents. They are worried that the dollar rate will pass to 17 liras and that there will be an increase again in July. It is currently calculated at 10 liras, but they are worried that it will be 12 liras because three years ago, over 200 local television companies were broadcasting from TÜRKSAT Satellite Communications and Kablo TV AŞ using satellite frequency. Today, the local television company that can broadcast in the satellite environment - I exclude those who make these tele-shopping - has dropped to 35. At the point where a local television company, that is, 3 megawatts gives 110 thousand liras, and 2 megawatts gives 80 thousand liras, if there is an increase in the dollar exchange rate, the complaints and demands of these local television channels, which are already in economic bottleneck, and the channels that cannot receive advertisements, about the TÜRKSAT frequency rental fees will inevitably arise. It turns out that this is very important. In other words, in the answer given by TÜRKSAT, in the past period, since everything was in dollars and all transactions were seen in dollars, 'We cannot withdraw it to Turkish lira and we cannot rent it in Turkish lira.' He says, that's the reason. But this needs to be brought down to an affordable level so that local televisions can live.”
"BUY IN TL"
Emphasizing that if the satellite rents are fixed in Turkish Lira rather than in dollars, Atila Sertel emphasized that televisions' chances of survival will increase, and said, "In my opinion, these prices are fixed in Turkish lira, not dollars, if these televisions are fixed, they will survive, otherwise they will die out, which is very important. Because local media organizations are the voice of the region they are in, they are the voice of the problems of the people living in that region, they have a voice in voicing their demands. Around 90, 100 thousand communication faculty students graduate, 80 thousand and 90 thousand students graduate. There is a great need for local televisions and local radios for these children to find work opportunities and jobs. As the voice of local television broadcasters, I have always expressed this to you and will continue to do so.”
TURKSAT GENERAL MANAGER: WE SUBSCRIBE
Making a statement on the subject, Türksat General Manager Hasan Hüseyin Ertok said:
“In this regard, our average for the first six months, with the exchange rate fixation, is 9,5 in the six months; The average dollar rate for the first six months is 14,5 TL. There's a five-lira margin here to protect local channels and indeed all broadcasters, which we currently subsidize. Because we apply this currency fixing to all TV broadcasters, not just local channels. That's why we think we're giving an important support here, even though satellite payments that we pay in dollar currency are currently billed at 17,5, we protect our broadcasters in an important way. We got a loan from the satellite manufacturer when we bought the satellite, Exim loan, we got an Exim loan from England, we pay it, they have payments every six months. Apart from that, since all ground systems investments, software investments, all of these are priced in dollars, and our expense budget is priced in dollars, we need to balance our income budget accordingly, but we still heavily subsidize these figures. Every month, indeed, our Board of Directors carefully examines this issue, sparing local channels.”
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