ERT Greece - BREAKING: Greek court has overturns closure

News is breaking that ERT (the state broadcaster of Greece) is being 'suspended' as of 12am tonight (Greece time). Amazing to think such a big broadcaster which employs 2500+ people could be closed in such a way. It's currently trending worldwide on Twitter under the hashtag '#ERT' and thousands of viewers are gathering outside the state broadcasters studios.

More information about this can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22861577

The channel is also streaming live at: http://www.ert.gr/

(Not sure what forum this fits into best, The Newsroom or TV Home, so mods move it if required)

EDIT: Turns out its 2656 jobs to be lost with the suspension of the broadcaster: http://www.itv.com/news/update/2013-06-11/report-2656-jobs-axed-at-greek-state-broadcaster/

EBU Statement

Today the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) expressed profound dismay on behalf of Europe’s entire public service media community at reports that ERT – a founding Member of the EBU in 1950 – has been shut down with immediate effect. Emergency powers granted to the Finance Minister and the competent Minister have been used to stop ERT’s transmissions, leaving Greek citizens wishing to watch ERT programmes in front of black screens.


continues here ……..

CMS on .EBU.CH
11-Jun-2013 @ 19:41

That appears to be ERT Net, their news channel. What a bizarre story for their journalists to have to cover. Edit: They're broadcasting the same rolling news programme on ERT 1 and Net (ERT 2).

Is anyone here au fait with Greek television? Are they really as wasteful and unpopular (ratings-wise) as the government are making out?

Thou shalt not worry: Kendo Yanar is on the story, 3,000 miles away from Athens.

BREAKING: As the last hour of Greek public broadcasting is about to begin, ERT's online streams have been stuck by a massive global viewer rush. Presenter at the corporations' second channel NET says that they don't know how much longer they can stay on air, before the gov't shuts them down. Phone lines to the studio have been open for an hour and even people from the newsroom are gathering around the news set to send their messages to the people in power. Chaos is ensuing around the country

Riot police has surrounded the offices of public TV stations in cities all over Greece. The Occupy movement is bombarding local radio stations at least in Athens and Thessaloniki. The downtown Mourouzi studios have been blocked by the police for more than two hours now. Picture from the capital, the first one ironicly enough broadcast by ERT themselves.




Commercial stations Star and ANT1 have switched into the rolling news-mode for the rest of the night to follow both the destiny of ERT and the ongoing riots. The Spanish television station Telemadrid happens to have a live camera crew on the spot and they have reported huge clashes between protesters and the police. Protesters have even got hold of EBU's confidential letter to the Greek PM.

On the more humorous side, Greek people are traditionally not very fond of either the corporations' journalistic output or their entertainment programming; thus they are already making a joke out of it online, one user on Twitter creating a prototype for a brand new TV remote control.



Unlike other protests, the decision by employees of ERT to take over studios and broadcast their side of the story, is unprecedented. Interestingly, this is the first time since 1936 (and possibly the last), that a state-owned media outlet in Greece is openly taking a stance against the government.

Twitter is exploding at the moment, so follow hashtags #ERT and #OccupyERT to get the latest information. This is Kendo Yanar, reporting 3,000 miles away from the scene.

EDIT @ 9pm: It's over. The final news program is done and the transmitters have shut down. Rest in peace.

I lived there for a few years, but was never really aware of it being wasteful - anymore so than any other Greek public corporation. It certainly never followed the downmarket, populist schedules that the main commercial (private) broadcasters such as Mega, ANT1 and Alpha churned out in their early years and so, yes, you could say that ratings-wise it was unpopular.

Just a side note, the channels are (were) ET1 - the equivalent of BBC1, NET (from Nea Elliniki Tileorasi - New Greek TV, the replacement for ET2), and the regional channel ET3 from Thessaloniki.

Thanks for your comprehensive reports about this truly unprecedented situation, Kendo Yanar, james, and everyone else!

ET3's transmission can be seen here: http://www.greektvlive.net/et3-live.html

ERT transmitters have been destroyed by riot police in Thessaloniki. Other cities gradually losing signal as well, some parts of Greater Athens still receiving it. Last words on the air in Thessaloniki: "they (police) are trying to take our transmitters down...".

Online stream still working for the time being @ www.ert.gr, but a bit choppy due to international overload. Currently they're showing footage of police outside the ERT HQ. Rumours about technicians setting up emergency broadcasts for larger cities are spreading fast, but no confirmation on air. Very chaotic indeed. Post updated constantly, keep pressing F5.

BREAKING: They are about to cut down phone lines leading to the ERT building, Athens. Phone jamming suspected on air after unsuccessful attempt to talk to a viewer from Piraeus. ET3 (Thessaloniki) phone lines have been confirmed as physically cut by armed forces. ERT World still on air, very surreal, almost impossible to believe.

Analog emergency (nightlight) signal set up by technicians confirmed available & working by multiple viewers. Journalists keep stressing, that the gov't is not able to cut down online streams. Stream off air @ 9:25 pm. Possible power cut @ ERT HQ. Before that they managed to confirm that terrestrial signals are down in all of Greece. Not often you get to see a political train wreck live on TV.

Telephone connections to ERT office have been cut in attempt to stop internet broadcast. No power cuts yet according to eyewitnesses. Amount of protesters now measured in tens of thousands around ERT main building in Athens. Thousands in Thessaloniki and few other cities. Radio stations going off the air in major cities, starting with 95,8 T'loniki. ERT are still reported broadcasting on ERT World, Hotbird. Users of Cypriot pay-tv provider Nova TV still report ET1 and NET available for them.

15 minutes left officially. Plugs will be pulled at 10pm GMT despite everything. ERT emergency signal on air through 902. Digital channel 47 for Athens. Greek Communist Party claimed responsible for rebroadcasting the signal on their frequency. Greek PM Samaras officially asked to resign by socialist PASOK due to ERT mess.

6 minutes left. State telecom refusing to cut the phone lines to ERT headquarters after gov't order. 4 minutes. Channel 902 and international news channels (Deutsche Welle, BBC World News, etc.) no longer on the air. 2 minutes. Euronews joins into ERT's last minutes, expecting the end of ERT World's digital signal.

Midnight in Athens. Two minutes have passed, signal still going strong on Euronews, showing live footage of protesters signing together to an anti-austerity song by some popular Greek artist. Gov't says broadcasting will restart with a smaller staff later, details yet to emerge. ERT still broadcasting, five minutes past midnight, Euronews leaves ERT World simulcast.

Euronews back with picture-in-picture simulcast. 8 minutes past midnight, broadcast still going with protest songs. University professors speaking to the protesters about the shutdown being unconstitutional. 15 minutes past midnight, ERT World still broadcasting. Cypriot TV also taken off air. Finance Ministry declares that ERT is no longer a legal entity, thus "they have no right to broadcast". 20 minutes past, handful of protesters manage to get inside the ERT building in Athens, chanting ANTIFA slogans. EBU allocates its feeds on Eutelsat 7E to broadcasting NET and ET1.

25 minutes, protesters now burning EU flags outside ERT. Technicians in Athens are destroying important archives dating back to 1930's. Half an hour more than supposed to, Euronews joins ERT World simulcast on communist station 902. ERT staff have occupied the building and according to Euronews, the broadcaster's technical staff have adjusted the signal so that it can be broadcast through smaller channels. News anchor crying live on-air, with headline strap saying "Get out on the streets!".

35 minutes. Nova TV feed cut down, multiple VHF pirate broadcasters in Athens now just transmitting dead air. Commercial channels are now stopping rolling news and shutting down completely in solidarity to ERT.

45 minutes. First reports of World simulcast disappearing come from inside Greece. Sources claim that the police and Hellenic Telecom are playing a game of cat-and-mouse: police keep switching signals off, yet Telecom keeps switching them back on. Euronews' PIP feed cuts off for a moment, but comes back bearing the NET on-screen graphic.

One hour past midnight, Athens time. Roads leading to ERT are blocked by protesters. No administration left in the building, only the technical staff and journalists running the show. Commercial station Mega has stopped transmitting dead air in solidarity to ERT, a live newscast is now transmitting. 1 hour 15 minutes: Greek ISP's report that gov't has requested them to blacklist www.ert.gr.

Whole online feed frozen on the official ERT website, suggesting that power output from their studios, as well as phone lines, have now been cut.

Their website has also either collapsed under the strain of visitors or police with hammers.

Or both......

The Communist channel '902' is apparently re-broadcasting ERT in the Athens area.