Inside CEE Television
- chrisdz3
- Jun 26
- 4 min read
Chris Dziadul, June 26 2025
Dragan Šolak files lawsuit
United Group’s founder Dragan Šolak has asked the Dutch Enterprise Chamber of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal to launch an investigation into a “serious governance crisis” at the company. In a lawsuit against United Group, he says that he and CEO Victoriya Boklag were dismissed suddenly last week as an act of “revenge” for taking earlier legal action in London against United Group’s holding company for non-payment of bonuses due under a duly signed contract. Šolak goes on to say that the decision by BC Partners, a London-based private equity fund and majority owner of United Group’s holding company, to remove him and Boklag unilaterally and without notice breached principles of corporate governance under Dutch law and has immediate and long-term adverse consequences for the viability and management of United Group and its stakeholders. Earlier this year, Šolak was forced to launch legal action at the High Court in London against United Group’s holding company Summer Parent after BC Partners refused to pay out €200 million in performance payments due to him and members of the management team for the €1.5 billion agreed sale of telco subsidiaries in Serbia. BC Partners also rejected a management buyout offer earlier this month.
Hynek Chudárek to head Czech pubcaster
Hynek Chudárek has been elected the new DG of the Czech public broadcaster Ceska Televize (CT) after Milan Fridrich, the director of the programme division, withdrew in the latest round of voting. Chudárek, who will replace Jan Soucek, will take over CT for a six-year term starting on July 1.
Canal+ withdraws channels
Canal+ Polska is no longer offering its subscribers the channels Red Carpet TV and ViDoc TV. Both channels are operated by Red Carpet Media Group, which according to local reports is experiencing financial difficulties. Earlier this year, its debts to the national transmission company Emitel amounted to PLN5.1 million (€1.2 million).
Broadcast channels dominate Czech TV viewing
Watching TV stations accounted for 87% of the total time spent on TV in the Czech Republic in 2024. According to Atmedia, in actual terms this amounted to 3 hours and 36 minutes daily, with the remaining 13% (33 minutes) given over to so-called other activities, such as watching YouTube and paid VOD services, listening to music, radio or podcasts, but also mirroring the image from a mobile phone or tablet, browsing websites and playing games. Atmedia notes that there has been an increase in the use of TV for other activities, up 53%, or 12 minutes a day, in the 15+ age group between 2020 and 2024. For some age groups this increase was even more significant, up 74% in those 25-34 and 85% in those aged 35-44. Younger age groups spend the most time on other activities on TVs, while the proportion of time spent watching TV increases even more with age. Atmedia also says that technological developments have helped increase the time spent on TVs for activities. For instance, the TV percentage of households with internet-connected TVs rose from 35% in 2020 to 57% last year.
Croatian pay-TV milestone in sight
Croatia is likely to have 1 million pay-TV subscribers by this time next year. According to the regulator HAKOM, the number stood at 929,990 as of the end of this March, or 0.86% more than in the same period in 2024. Meanwhile, pay-TV revenues in Q1 were, at €36.74 million, 11.57% up on a year earlier. Although the majority of connections were IPTV (462,500), the total was 6% lower than in Q1 2024. OTT has emerged as the main driver, with the number of connections growing by 104.93% to 146,069 and revenue by 143.24% to €3.62 million.
Rakuten TV partners with 1+1 Media
The Ukrainian FAST channel 1+1 Travel is now available in 43 European countries. This follows an agreement between its operator 1+1 Media and Rakuten TV, whose FAST offer includes over 500 channels, at least 100 of which are proprietary, and reaches over 150 million households across the continent. 1+1 Travel is based on a unique TV show named The World Inside Out and is available in Spanish with English subtitles.
RTL inks motorsport deal
RTL Hungary has launched a media support cooperation with Martin Molnár, a promising hope of Hungarian motorsport, and his management MOTAM (Motorsport Talent Management). According to the broadcaster, the aim of the cooperation is to introduce the 16-year-old driver, who will be competing in the British Formula 4 championship, to the domestic audience and to accompany him on his road to Formula 1.
Smart TV first for Vivacom
Bulgaria’s Vivacom has become the first United Group company to launch a new interactive TV service aimed at businesses. Known as EON BIZ Smart TV, the app can be installed directly on smart TVs and only requires a reliable Wi Fi network. It gives access to over 110 TV channels with public broadcasting rights, along with premium packages offering sport, movies and specialised content.
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© Chris Dziadul, 2025
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