Czech TV head orders blackout

Crowds are demonstrating to support the rebel journalists

The new head of Czech Television (CT) is refusing to step down, despite calls from the governing party for his resignation.

Jiri Hodac said on Thursday that his departure would not solve the problems at CT - which now include the shutdown of all terrestrial broadcasting at his order.

Mr Hodac insists he will maintain the station's independence

CT journalists have been opposing the appointment of Mr Hodac, claiming he will compromise the station's political independence.

All CT terrestrial broadcasting was shut down on Wednesday night after several days during which rebel journalists and the management broadcast rival programmes simultaneously.

The rebels have continued to broadcast via satellite.

A number of parliamentary deputies have called for a special session to discuss the crisis.

'No support'

The Czech Broadcasting Council - which appointed Mr Hodac on 20 December - is meeting on Thursday, but a government spokesman says the council is not in a position to solve the crisis.

The spokesman, Libor Roucek, said the council had planned to decide which of the rival broadcasts was legitimate, but that the question is moot with the station shut down.

He predicts that Mr Hodac will have to resign.

Not even a CT driver will obey Mr Hodac

Government spokesman Libor Roucek

"He has no support within the organisation," Mr Roucek said.

"When he came to see a minister yesterday, he had to come by taxi because not even a CT driver would obey him", he told BBC News Online.

CT news staff say Mr Hodac's close links to the centre-right opposition Civic Democratic Party (ODS) mean that he is politically biased and unsuitable for the post.

The ODS is now the only party in parliament supporting him. An ODS statement noted that Mr Hodac has never been a party member.

Call for police help

On Wednesday, Mr Hodac urged police to "intervene as soon as possible, and energetically". He has dismissed 20 journalists, and says he is taking legal action against the rebels.

President Vaclav Havel has criticised Mr Hodac's appointment by the lower house of the Czech parliament.

The former dissident playwright said the appointment followed the letter of the law, but was "against its sense, its spirit".

Havel has offered influential backing for the protesting journalists

"That is immensely dangerous," he said.

The Czech press, along with prominent artists and intellectuals, have also supported the anti-Hodac journalists, and crowds of several thousand have protested in favour of the broadcasters.

Protesters say that Mr Hodac yielded to political pressure from the ODS and the ruling Social Democrats when he earlier briefly worked as news editor at CT.

Mr Hodac, who has also worked at the BBC's Czech-language service, insists he would maintain the station's independence.

The rebel journalists have also rejected Mr Hodac's choice as news director, Jana Bobosikova. She has warned that she is prepared to use force to clear the newsroom.

Commercial competition

CT has faced stiff commercial competition in the decade since the fall of Communism and has struggled to find competent leadership in recent years.

Defiant journalists stood in the background during a rebel broadcast

Mr Hodac is the station's fourth director-general in two and a half years.

His predecessor Dusan Chmelicek, was sacked on 12 December, after just 10 months in the post.

Ex-Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus, an admirer of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, has responded to the crisis by calling for the privatisation of CT.

But opponents say that privatising CT would be the most serious attempt to weaken public broadcasting since the Velvet Revolution in 1989.