Closure of the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation
The Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) was temporarily closed from 11 June 2013 until 7 November 2013. It was a decision made by then-Prime Minister Antonis Samaras in an attempt to save money.
Closure
On 11 June 2013, Antonis Samaras decided to close ERT to save money. That day, then-government spokesperson Simos Kedikoglou described ERT as a "haven of waste" and costing 3 to 7 times more than other TV stations. The plug was pulled at approximately 11:10 p.m. with ET1 stopping completely while NET and ET3 continued to be broadcast online.
Reactions and aftermath
The closure of ERT triggered a huge amount of anger and protests all over Greece and other countries too, mostly Europe. In Athens, citizens gathered outside ERT's headquarters to show their support for the broadcaster and stood out there all night. The European Broadcasting Union and its members, notably BBC, RTBF, RAI, ZDF, France Télévisions and RTVE criticized the closure.
On 12 June, the day after the closure, it was announced that ERT would be replaced by the New Hellenic Radio, Internet and Television (NERIT) and would have fewer employees. On 21 June, 10 days after the closure, The Democratic Left (DIMAR) announced it's departure from the governmental coalition with the New Democracy and PASOK, after expressing huge disagreement over closing ERT.
On 10 July, a new single and temporary public TV station Dimosia Tileorasi (DT) was released and on 26 September the same thing was done for public radio with the company called Dimosia Radiofonia.
Break-in and aftermath
On 7 November 2013, at 4:20 am, riot police stormed into ERT's headquarters, evacuated all the employees who were still making online broadcasts and locked the doors. Since then, the online broadcasting stopped and the building remained locked until, on 13 April 2014, the ERT sign was removed from the building and would soon be replaced with the new NERIT sign.
On 4 May 2014, the new broadcaster NERIT began functioning fully through radio and television transmissions at 6 p.m. and DT and DR ceased transmissions. On 20 September, the new NERIT sign was installed.
Reopening of ERT
On 25 January 2015, Alexis Tsipras, leader of the radical left party SYRIZA became Greece's new Prime Minister and with his party and the Independent Greeks party led by Panos Kammenos now the new governmental coalition, Tsipras announced that ERT would be reopened soon. 5 months later, on 11 June, ERT resumed full operatons at 6:00 a.m. with its first two TV stations. On 29 June 2015 the third station resumed operations and on 3 May 2016, the satellite station ERT World began transmissions again.