Chris Dziadul Analysis: TVN not for sale

April 14, 2025

 

Following months of speculation and numerous reports – some confirmed, others not – Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) has finally decided not to dispose of the Polish national commercial broadcaster TVN. However, given TVN’s ownership history (ITI Group, Scripps Networks Interactive, Discovery and now WBD), I for one certainly wouldn’t bet on it eventually ending up being sold by the US company.

WBD’s decision was communicated to TVN’s employees in a statement by the key executives Kasia Kieli and Gerhard Zeiler on Monday, April 14. In it they said that following a few months reviewing strategic options for the broadcaster, “we have decided that the optimal option is for TVN to remain within WBD structures and develop our business within one group.”

Indications that things were not quite going according to plan with the sale first came to light last week, when within the space of a few days it was firstly reported that the Polish billionaire Michał Sołowow had lodged the highest bid for TVN, which was apparently being sold in three packages – he was interested in two, the other being a minority (32%) stake in Canal+ Polska – and then decided to drop out of the race.

This apparently left two other parties, Ringier Axel Springer Polska (RASP) and a consortium headed by Wirtualna Polska, still in the running, but it is believed that none actually lodged a bid for TVN, which according to some reports was valued at over €1 billion.

It should also be noted that several other parties, including TV2 (Hungary), PPF Group (Czech Republic) and the Berlusconi family’s MFE-MediaForEurope (MFE), were also reportedly interested in TVN at one stage. Furthermore, the Polish Government declared several media companies, among them TVN and its nearest commercial rival Polsat, strategic national assets. This in effect meant that they could not be sold without the Government’s approval.

While there may be several reasons as to why WBD decided to retain TVN, the most likely at this stage is probably the deteriorating global economic climate and uncertainties surrounding Donald Trump’s trade tariffs policy. What the future now holds TVN remains to be seen.

 

© Chris Dziadul, 2025