were closed down around Greece, as was eventually the worldwide ERT World feed. Using satellite offices and other spaces that had not been closed down, ERT journalists continued to broadcast to the Internet. The nearest ERT Transmitters to Athens closed at approximately 23:17 local time. 20 seconds later, channel 902TV (the communist party channel) retransmits the ERT signal, although a few minutes later, the Greek government called Digea, the digital television service, to close the signal [902's] due to rebroadcasting the signal without permission, and so 902 was closed for a period of time. This action was deemed unacceptable by most Greek citizens due to the Greek Government shutting down ERT without consulting the National Council of Radio and Television, the official body of Radio and Television in Greece. On 12 June at noon local time, the AS and IP range of ERT, the official domain names "ert.gr", "ert3.gr", and "voiceofgreece.gr" were cancelled in the Greek Internet registry, meaning that live broadcasts on the Internet (ERT LIVE) have stopped, as well as the publication of all news articles. Emails sent to the broadcasters are no longer delivered. Other Internet assets registered by ERT are at risk of being closed (because their owner and contact address are no longer valid), notably the official Facebook page and Twitter account. ERT LIVE is relayed by other sites, such as the University of Greece. The European Broadcasting Union was quick to criticise the closure, issuing a statement the same evening where they expressed "profound dismay on behalf of Europe’s entire public service media" and urged the prime minister to reverse the decision. The EBU made the ERT stream available on satellite to its members, declaring as well that "to be in the EBU, you must be a broadcaster, and so we will continue keeping ERT on the EBU council" as said by the director, Ingrid Delterne. Alexis Tsipras, the leftwing opposition leader, who would later become Prime Minister, expressed dismay in regards of ERT's shutdown and described it as "illegal". NERIT On 12 June 2013 a Greek government spokesperson, Simos Kedikoglou, announced the formation of a new public service broadcaster, New Hellenic Radio, Internet and Television. The company's services were expected to launch on 29 August 2013. The service provider employed between 1,000 and 1,200 and was funded by advertising and tax contributions. Prior to its launch on television, a temporary state television broadcaster