| Company type | Public (until 2020), Subsidiary (since 2020) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Media |
| Founded | 1991 |
| Headquarters | Prague, Czech Republic |
Key people | Didier Stoessel, CEO, Responsible for Czech Republic & Romania and Moldova Dušan Šválek, Deputy CEO, Responsible for Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovakia, and Slovenia |
| Products | Television broadcasting Television production Video on demand service provider |
| Parent | PPF Group N.V. |
| Website | www |
Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. (CME) is a media and entertainment company that operates television channels in seven geographic areas: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Romania and Moldova, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Until its acquisition by PPF Group N.V. in October 2020, the company was listed on NASDAQ and Prague Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol CETV. [1] It has since been delisted. [2]
Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. was co-founded in 1991 by Americans Ronald Lauder and Mark Palmer in Germany as CEDC GmbH (Central European Development Corporation), [3] and later changed its name and reincorporated in the Netherlands as Central European Media Enterprises (CME). It started broadcasting its first channel in the Czech Republic in 1994.
On 23 March 2009, Time Warner announced it would invest $241.5 million in CME for a 31% stake. [4] By 2Q 2013, Time Warner had acquired a controlling interest in CME in a series of transactions. [5]
In October 2019, AT&T signed an agreement to sell WarnerMedia's stake to PPF. [6] [7] The transaction valued at $2.1 billion was completed in October 2020. [8]
On 14 February 2022, Central European Media Enterprises announced buying RTL Hrvatska from RTL Group for €50 million. The transaction was closed on 1 June 2022. [9] [10] [11]
CME is the broadcast market leader in most countries where it has television stations. CME currently operates 45 television channels broadcasting to approximately 49 million people across 6 geographic segments. CME develops and produces content for its television channels, and its content is also consumed through subscription and advertising VOD. [12] It also operates the Voyo streaming platform that provides on demand local content in all of CME’s geographic regions
In 2023, CME launched its ESG strategy branded CME Cares. [13] This initiative was created to communicate CME’s efforts to leave a lasting positive impact on its environment, communities, and societies. CME Cares aims to offer socially responsible content, implement sustainable production practices, aid underprivileged communities, and follow transparent business practices.
In 2022 Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. launched CME Content Academy. The two-year course is designed to provide participants with a foundation across various film-making disciplines, enabling students to become TV professionals. [14]
The practice is divided according to the production scheme of TV Nova, POP TV, PRO TV, bTV, RTL and TV Markíza and takes place in Brno, Prague, Zagreb, Ljubljana, Bucharest, Sofia and Bratislava.
Bulgaria
Croatia
Czech Republic
Romania and Moldova
Slovakia
Slovenia
PRO TV is a Romanian free-to-air television network, launched on 1 December 1995 as the fourth private TV channel in the country. It is owned by CME, which is owned by PPF Group.
This is a list of radio stations in Europe.
TV Nova is a commercial television station in the Czech Republic. It began broadcasting in February 1994 as the first privately held nationwide Czech TV station. Its first CEO was Vladimír Železný. It quickly achieved the largest market share in the country and remained in this position until the early 2010s.
A women's interest channel generally refers to either a television station, network or specialty channel that targets women as its main demographic; offering programs that will appeal to the female population.
RTL is a Croatian free-to-air television network founded on 30 April 2004. It was owned by the RTL Group from 2004 to 2022. Since 1 June 2022, it is owned by the CME Group.
Markíza is a Slovak television channel launched on August 31, 1996. The channel was founded by a later politician Pavol Rusko, and is now part of the Central European Media Enterprises (CME). It also operates television channels Doma, Dajto, Markíza International, Markíza KRIMI and Markíza Klasik . In 2020, CME was bought out by Peter Kellner's investment group PPF. PPF is therefore the new owner of tv Markíza.
Acasă, formerly known as Pro 2 between 2017 and 2022, is a Romanian television channel operated by Central European Media Enterprises. It is an entertainment station, primarily dedicated to daytime series, family movies, talk shows, soap operas and news programs. Its sister is the television channel Acasă Gold that was launched on April 15, 2012; it airs reruns of the telenovelas that aired on Acasă and, especially, classical telenovelas, including some PRO TV shows.
Television was introduced in Czechoslovakia in 1953. Experimental projects with DVB-T started in 2000. Finally on 21 October 2005, multiplex A (DVB-T) was launched with three channels of Česká televize and one of TV Nova and radio channels of Český rozhlas.
MediaPro Pictures is the largest film and TV production company in Romania, part of MediaPro Entertainment along with other production units from Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Bulgaria. Since 2009, MediaPro Entertainment is part of CME, a media and entertainment group, who operates broadcasting, internet and TV content companies.
TV JOJ is a Slovak private TV channel owned by J&T Enterprises and launched in March 2002. The channel screens serial dramas and TV shows.
PPF Group is an international diversified investment group founded in 1991 in the Czech Republic. PPF Group invests in a variety of sectors, including banking and financial services, telecommunications, media, biotechnology, real estate and industry. The geographical reach of PPF Group spans Europe, North America and Asia. It is currently active in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Serbia, Hungary, Switzerland, Ukraine, Turkey, Netherlands, Bulgaria, Croatia, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Kazakhstan, Finland, Germany, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, China, France, United Kingdom and the United States.
The CME v. Czech Republic and Lauder v. Czech Republic were parallel cases decided by two different arbitral tribunals in 2001. The difference in the two cases' outcomes is a prime example of conflicting decisions in international arbitration and is the subject of many treatises, with some authors going as far as calling it "the ultimate fiasco in investment arbitration".
The European News Exchange is an association of the world's leading commercial TV broadcasters. Coordinated by the ENEX Centre in Luxembourg, ENEX members share their news content and news production resources in order to gain competitive advantages in newsgathering. ENEX began as a technical service platform and has over recent years transformed itself into becoming a news provider that gathers daily news video stories from its members in a news pool. All ENEX content is available, exclusively to its members, for free. To ensure exclusivity, usually only one channel per territory is allowed to join.
United Group is an alternative telecom provider in Southeast Europe that operates both telecommunications platforms and mass media outlets.
RTL Kockica is a Croatian specialized TV channel for children, young people and families owned by the CME Group as of 1 June 2022. RTL Kockica started broadcasting on 11 January 2014 at 11:01 am.
RTL Croatia World is an international TV channel dedicated to Croats living outside Croatia operated by the CME Group as of 1 June 2022. The channel was launched on 11 July 2016.
Lego Masters is an international reality television show in which teams compete to build the best Lego project, based on the original British show of that name, which premiered in 2017. Many other countries adapted the format and began airing their own versions starting in 2018. As of 2020, the format is jointly owned by Tuesday's Child, The Lego Group and Banijay.
Voyo is a European paid video on demand service launched in 2011 as a free archive of programs produced by every national TV channel owned by CME and a platform for live broadcasting of original work and sports broadcasts. It gradually transformed into a paid service modeled after the American Netflix. The range of available programs is regularly changed. According to the operator, there are more than 2,000 movies and series. The vast majority of the listed titles are either Bulgarian, Czech, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene or fully or partially localized. The service also provides live broadcasts of sports channels. On the portal, it is also possible to watch films, series and programs a week earlier than on TV.
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