The lightest of these was a warning. If a station continued to ignore the Council's decisions, then tougher sanctions would be implemented, ranging from closing the station down for one day, or withdrawing the station's broadcasting licence altogether. The implementation of this Bill did not solve all the problems concerning television and radio stations. In fact, it drew many criticisms from different representatives of the broadcasting lobby. Secondly, the range of possible sanctions on the broadcasting stations was considered to be too strict.
Today there are eleven private channels which broadcast nationally in Turkey.
When the five TRT channels are added to this, one can see that there is plenty of choice available. In fact, this is not the whole picture, as there are also 15 regional and 229 local television channels of varying sizes, especially in the big cities. The common feature of all these channels is their use of electro-magnetic waves. Most of them are threatened with closure as too many of them are fighting for limited revenue. The vast majority of private television channels offer a similar mix of programmes.