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After the death last month of Hungarian broadcasting and film empresario Andy Vajna the disposition of national television channel TV2 was the great understated question among media watchers. Mr. Vajna acquired TV2 in 2015. The channel was previously owned by ProSiebenSat.1 Media. There was little doubt TV2 would cede to the set of wealthy persons attached to prime minister Viktor Orban. The only question was who it might be.
That became clear, if anything about Hungary’s media can be so, shortly. TV2 Media Group, the company principally controlled by Andy Vajna, held an official board meeting shortly after his death, reported news portal Valasz Online (February 13) and widely repeated. Miklós Vaszily was named president. He has been acting president of Echo TV, a role that continues, and long associated with media favorable to PM Orban. Echo TV is owned by Lorinc Mészaros, owner of Opus Press and close associate of PM Orban. New members of the TV2 Media Group board were named, several associated with Mr. Meszaros. Remaining is TV2 general manager Dirk Gerkins, who joined the company in 2015 after an acrimonious exit from RTL Group’s Hungarian TV channel RTL Klub. (See more about media in Hungary here)
An inevitable takeover of TV2 by Mr. Meszaros was telegraphed last year by news portal 444.hu (October 18, 2018), suggesting the possibility of merging TV2 and Echo TV. TV2 benefitted from a generous slice of government advertising, without which, suggested index.hu (February 13), the business was “unsustainable.” Mr. Vajna, though wealthy, acquired TV2 the old fashioned way - other people’s money - in this case a loan through Hungary’s ExImBank. That debt was purchased, mostly, by Mr. Meszaros. No mystery here.
Czech broadcaster TV Nova is having its 25th anniversary this month. Its tenure has seen “twists and turns,” media watchers point out (idnes.cz February 1), but, ultimately, the channel has become one of central Europe’s the most enduring. What began as a break from tradition is now emblematic of a mature media market.
The early years of TV Nova were truly bonkers. On air it was exactly what Czech viewers - and advertisers - craved. Out was the stogy, culturally-obsessed state TV model. Instead there were Western movies and US series (including, of course, Dallas). News, required in the original concession, was far less formal. The original owner, Vladimir Zelezny, has his own call-in talk show. That was 1994. Noteworthy, too, is how Ceske Televize adapted to become one Europe’s premiere public TV broadcasters. (See more about media in the Czech Republic here)
Even as ratings and revenues soared, financial and management issues shook the operation. As often happened in the newly unshackled central and eastern European media markets, accounting was not a strength. Media regulation in the mid-1990s was not sufficiently attuned to commercial broadcasting realities. Mr. Zelezny took on as a partner Central European Media Enterprises (CME), then owned by Estée Lauder heir Ronald Lauder, then investment house PPF Group, principally owned by Czech billionaire Petr Kellner. Disputes among Mr. Zelezny, Mr. Lauder and media regulator RRTV were finally resolved, painfully for Czech taxpayers, in a settlement award in 2003 of US$350 million. (See more about CME here)
A decade ago Mr. Lauder divested in CME, big US media house Time Warner eventually taking principal control. CME has spun-off several TV assets in recent years and attempted to exit others. The company, now a subsidiary of WarnerMedia, is still shedding debt from the Lauder years, when dodgy partnerships and management issues proved costly. WarnerMedia is a subsidiary of giant telecom AT&T.
TV Nova, now a bouquet of free-to-air and pay channels, makes a bundle of money. Commercial revenues for 2018, according to CME, rose 3.3% year on year to CZK 4.47 billion (US$ 206 million). Revenues from transmission fees and pay channel subscriptions were up 23%.
Polish state TV broadcaster TVP filed a defamation lawsuit against the ethics ombudsman who suggested its news coverage could have influenced the mind-set of an alleged murderer. TVP has asked for a public apology posted on the Onet platform, PLN 25,000 (€5,775) contribution to charity plus court costs. “I treat this as an attack on an independent constitutional body and an attempt to close my mouth,” said Commissioner for Human Rights Adam Bodnar to news portal wyborcza.pl (February 12).
Pawel Adamowicz, mayor of Gdansk, speaking at a charity event, was stabbed January 13th and succumbed the next day. His assailant, recorded in the act, grabbed a microphone to claim torture under the previous centrist Civic Platform party PO) government. He was quickly, thereafter, apprehended and charged. Prosecutors said he had recently been released from prison.
Mayor Adamowicz had been in office for more than 20 years, recently re-elected last November. He ran as an independent and had been endorsed by the Civic Platform party. He had been relentlessly attacked by the ruling right-wing, nativist Law and Justice (PiS) party. He had “expected an attack,” reported Gazeta Wyborcza (February 12), “but a political one.”
Following such dreadful acts, it is reflexive, normal, to look at mitigating circumstances. "What media could the killer of Pawel Adamowicz… have access to?” said Mr. Bodnar to news portal Onet.pl (January 16). “He only had terrestrial television. He did not have access to the internet or coded television. The information channel broadcast 24 hours a day is TVP Info. In my opinion, this is one of the issues that should be clarified. What could be the consequences of the lack of pluralism in prison?" According to its website, the Commissioner for Human Rights (Rzecznik Praw Obywatelskich) “is the constitutional authority for legal control and protection. In his activities, the Commissioner is integral and independent from other state authorities.” (See more about media in Poland here)
The Media Ethics Council (Rada Etyki Mediow - REM), on behalf of Association of Polish Cities, reported that “materials broadcast on TVP on the subject of the Mayor of Gdansk, Pawel Adamowicz, manipulated facts, suggestions and allegations so as to present him as a person unworthy of trust,” noted press.pl (February 12). “He did not have the right to defend himself.” The city of Gdansk is considering a lawsuit against TVP for “violating their personal rights,” said a spokesperson, quoted by fakt.pl (February 12). (See more about media ethics here)
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