TV Trwam gets credibility stamp

TV Trwam owner, the Lux Veritatis Foundation, has received a business credibiltiy certificate from Dun & Bradstreet. By the same token it has divested Poland's broadcast authority of their main argument for refusing to grant TV Trwam digital platform access. On Thursday, TV Trwam showed broadcast chief Jan Dworek humming, hawing and getting tongue-tied at a meeting with TV Trwam officials.

The Foundation from Poland is certified entity , which has a very good financial situation . This certification also applies to previous years. This confirms that when the licensing process was settled , we had a very good financial situation , as opposed to entities that the concessions granted and - as we remember - these companies did not contribute funds to the state budget - said in an interview with Television Trwam Lidia Kochanowicz , Director financial Lux Veritatis Foundation .

tv maybach did not get access to the digital platform, because it did not - as opposed to all other normal stations - gave insight into its finances. Polska B still can watch it by other ways.

You mean they are still being discriminated against.

No. The rules are the same for them as for any other station wanting a place on the digital platform. I'm not aware of reports from foreign credit agencies being a required part of the financial disclosure component of the application procedure.

If they want to go digital, all they have to do is follow the same rules as other TV stations who are taking part in the process.

TV Trwam's credibility - isn't that an oxymoron?

Why do you hate people who had no control over where they were born?
Not everyone was lucky enough to have been born to a well-to-do family in affluent Belgium.


Dun & Bradstreet evaluate only financial credibility,

Some of us may well have been born as far down the social scale as it gets but have done something about it. As Oscar Wilde says, " we are all in the gutter, but some of us a looking at the stars". TRWAM has goals too. Its short term goal is to get a place on the digital platform. The application process is a level playing field but for some reasontheynthink they should be exempt from following the rules. Why do you think that is?

Which exact rules do you claim they are not folloiwng?

Polska B is a state of mind, if anything.

Don't be disingenuous - the matter has received enough publicity, and the requirements for a place on the digital platform are transparent.

The link says digital platform slots had been given previously to entities in far worse financial shape than TV Trwam.
The general feeling is that Tuskite Dworak will do everything he is ordered to by the boss.

The thing is that tv maybach refuses to comply to the same standards as the other stations, that just for them all conditions should be waved.

If that's true, why didn't TV Trwam open the books? What did Rydzyk have to hide from the KRRiT?


Means nothing. These companies will hand out 'certificates' to anyone that will pay. Fortunately, the KRRiT rules are clear - open the books or nothing.

Why won't Rydzyk publish the response that he got from the KRRiT? Why?


The link is from Rydzyk's newspaper mouthpiece. It's not exactly credible, and it's got a long history of telling the most absurd lies. If TV Trwam is in such good shape, why doesn't Rydzyk open the books for everyone to see? Certainly the KRRiT argument would have been destroyed if Rydzyk had published the accounts online for everyone to see.


No, he did what he had to do according to the law. There's a difference.


Of course, does anyone genuinely believe that TV Trwam actually wanted to be on the multiplex? If they got it, they would be forced to adhere to certain standards. It's much better for them to be 'excluded' (though - let's point out that it's still available via satellite and cable quite freely) from the multiplexes and then they can use it to brainwash their followers.

It's been discussed but do you think I followed all the technicalities? Please explain in plain non-gadgetarian English (maybe the way Delph did with ciookies) which exact rules Rydzyk didn't comply with. Also how the multiplex (whatever that is -- I wouldn't know one uif I tripped over one) will increase the TV's audiece range. I think that's what it's all about innit? How many viewers can he reached at presetn and after getting a digital slot?

Basically, one of the criteria of the bidding process was that you had to supply all the relevant financial data. This was including sources of funding - financial stability was one of the most important criteria for the new public TV system. There was also one station set aside for "religious" programming.

Now, the KRRiT declined to grant a spot to TV Trwam. A letter was written to the Lux Veritas Foundation explaining why they were refused - but the trustees of that foundation have declined to publish the reason why. There are two possible reasons - either they refused to open the books, or they are relying too heavily on viewer donations. Either way, until the Lux Veritas Foundation chooses to tell us why, we can't say what the real reason was. What is clear (also from KRRiT statements) is that there was an issue with the funding of the station and that they weren't satisfied with what TV Trwam supplied.

All politics aside, I think the real issue is that the Foundation doesn't want to have outsiders looking into their financial affairs. I don't even think it's wrong doing as such, but rather a desire to keep their financial backers names out of the media. It's pretty obvious that had their finances been shown to the KRRiT, then they would have been leaked and published in the media.


It doesn't, actually. It's a bit of a myth spread by the Foundation - essentially, the only difference is that you would be able to pick up TV Trwam on normal TV through an aerial rather than through cable or satellite. TV Trwam is already available for free with a satellite dish and decoder, or it's normally available with basic cable packages - so absolutely nothing has changed in this respect.


Numbers haven't changed - just that it requires less effort to receive. But in reality, many places aren't able to receive TV anyway - for instance, where I live (in a valley) - it's impossible to pick up normal TV through an aerial.

What may be concerning for TV Trwam is that those seeking religious TV may be content with whoever wins the spot on the normal TV - which will hurt them when it comes to advertising revenue.

OK, fair enough. But TV Trwam was first and then TVN set up its rival Religia TV. Now they are both on the air. Does the TVN one already have a digital slot or is it bidding for one or what?

As far as I understand it, the main issue is that if you want to broadcast on digital terrestrial TV (through an aerial) - then you need to find 10 million zloty a year in fees. TV Trwam - regardless of what you think of it - is the biggest religious TV station in Poland - but to pay 10 million Zloty in fees would cripple any religious broadcaster. When you look at TV Trwam's shows - these are not high budget productions.

As the bidding process goes - there will be at least three more spots opening up next year. Seems unlikely that any religious TV will win a spot - but I don't think Religia TV even attempted to bid for a licence.

It's worth pointing out that the Lux Veritas Foundation could put a stop to this once and for all if they opened their books to the public - if they could clearly show that a 10 million payment was possible (yearly), then there would almost no way that the KRRiT could refuse them.

I found one reference that suggests that the Lux Veritas Foundation has about 90 million zloty in assets, but the vast majority of this is a loan and not actual cash on hand. Even if the loan is on favourable conditions, it's still not their cash - which is probably what caused them to be rejected. It's worth pointing out that 10 other stations were rejected too at the same time - it's not as if Trwam was the only one.

Could be Lux has received private bequests with the donors' stipulation that they should remain anonymous, hence their reluctance to throw open their books. Dunno - just speculating. But TVN is a wealthy concern as far as I know, so they could easily even run their Religia TV at a loss just to cut into Trwam's viewership. TVN is the most anti-PiS station there is, don't you agree.

It is entirely possible - and quite understandable why the donors might not want their names in public. I don't think it's much of a secret that TV Trwam's funding relies on donations - which I think was why Lux Veritas were attempting to move into other areas of income.


They could, but I think the KRRiT wouldn't allow them to cross-subsidise like that. But it's also worth pointing out that losing 10 million a year + programming costs just to hurt Trwam would be pretty pointless, especially as Trwam's viewership is politically aware.


I think it's a shame that the media in Poland (on all sides) is so highly partisan. Independent journalism just doesn't exist here.

Then they'd better think up a different business plan if they want to meet the criteria for the digital platform. I can't think of any other large scale media service where the financial backers insist on anonymity. Smells fishy in the extreme.

It all comes back to the plain facts. tv maybach has to comply to the same standards as the other stations. They think they should be granted an exemption.