Poland’s president on Monday said he has decided to veto a media bill that would have forced U.S. company Discovery to give up its controlling share in TVN, a Polish TV network.
President Andrzej Duda noted that the bill was unpopular with many Poles and would have dealt a blow to Poland’s reputation as a place to do business.
The bill, recently passed by the lower house of parliament, would have prevented any non-European entity from owning more than a 49% stake in television or radio broadcasters in Poland.
Its practical effect would have targeted only one existing company, Discovery Inc., forcing the U.S. owner of Poland’s largest private television network, TVN, to sell the majority or even all of its Polish holdings.
Many Poles saw the bill, pushed by the ruling Law and Justice party that Duda is aligned with, as an attempt to silence a broadcaster that broadcasts independent and often critical reporting of the authorities.
Mass nationwide protests were recently held in support of the station and of freedom of speech more broadly.
Discovery had threatened to sue Poland in an international arbitration court.
Duda said he agreed in principle that countries should limit foreign ownership in media companies, saying many other democratic countries – including the United States, France and Germany – have such legislation. But he also said that in this case, the law would have hurt a business already operating legally in Poland.
He noted that signing the bill into law would have cost the nation billions of dollars and said he shared the view of many of his countrypeople that this bill was not necessary right now.
