In her words, the prime minister already notified LRT several months ago about the wish of Lithuanians living in Poland’s Punsk to have better conditions for watching the Lithuanian public broadcaster’s programs, but she says Lithuanians in Poland could make more effective use of the existing opportunities.
“LRT looked into this matter over this time and believes that it would not be productive to resolve this issue of broadcasting LRT in the territory of Poland this way, and I am inviting Lithuanians in Poland to make use of the existing opportunities to watch LRT programs,” Monika Garbačiauskaitė-Budrienė told BNS Lithuania.
She said the Lithuanian Radio and Television Center earlier proposed resolving the issue of broadcasting for Punsk by purchasing a transmitter worth 150,000 euros. But strengthening the LRT signal from Lithuania to Punsk alone would not automatically allow people start watching the broadcast of LRT as residents would need a collective antenna facing Lithuania.
LRT is currently broadcasting its programs to Lithuanians living abroad, including Poland, via the satellite on the LRT Lituanica channel. Its programs are also available online in the media section of LRT’s website.
Prime Minister Skvernelis said last week he once again heard the wish of the Lithuanian community in Poland to be able to watch LRT programs. He said he had preliminary discussed the issue with Garbačiauskaitė-Budrienė but added that the government might look for other solutions for Lithuanians in Poland’s Sejny, Punsk and Suwalki be able to watch LRT.
Around 5,000 Lithuanians live in Poland.