The door is now open for United Group to buy Nova TV.
United Group, the leading cable and pay TV operator in Southeast Europe, has announced the liquidation of its subsidiaries in Croatia, and that includes a sale of Total TV, a satellite TV distribution platform. With this transaction, United Group will completely withdraw from the Croatian pay-TV distribution market, reports tportal.hr on January 14, 2018.
As part of this transaction, United Group has agreed to provide full technical support to Total TV during the 12-month transition period in order to facilitate the transfer of ownership and ensure the highest level of quality of service for end users.
By selling Total TV, United Group has removed a formal barrier for the takeover of Nova TV, Croatia’s most popular TV channel. In mid-November, the Electronic Media Council issued a decision that there was no legal possibility for the acquisition of 100 percent of the shares of Nova TV because Croatian laws prevent the same or connected companies from owning both TV distribution platforms and individual TV channels.
In July, United Group announced that it wanted to buy from Central European Media Enterprises (CME) Slovenian and Croatian media outlets, including Nova TV, for 230 million euros.
Speaking for Večernji List, Ludo Bammens, director of corporate affairs for Europe in the American investment firm KKR, which is the majority owner of the United Group, commented on the latest events. “Nova TV will remain an independent Croatian company with a license in Croatia subject to all regulations, including tax regulations, in Croatia. Everything will remain as it is today. Secondly, we will fully respect the editorial independence of Nova TV. We believe we are credible because we have owned Pro Sieben and Sat1 in Germany for nine years now. Ask them, ask the German government, and they will tell you that we have never interfered with the editorial decisions. Thirdly, we guarantee that Nova TV will be managed separately from all other United Group’s operations in Croatia, including the N1 news channel. They will remain completely independent of each other. We have offered direct communication to the Croatian government, and we are committed to acting responsibly as the owners,” said Bammens, responding to a question about whether there were political reasons for the US company to buy the most influential Croatian TV channel.
