Polsat has been a regular feature of the Polish media landscape for over a decade. Starting life as a satellite-delivered service up-linked from The Netherlands, it soon secured a terrestrial licence and went on to become – alongside publicly owned TVP and commercial rival TVN – one of the country’s three leading broadcasters.
Although its founder Zygmunt Solorz-Zak has been at the helm right from the onset, Polsat has been looking for a strategic investor for a number of years and attracted – at various times – the interest of such companies as News Corp, RTL and Fininvest. In late 2006, however, it appeared its search had finally reached a successful conclusion when Axel Springer agreed to pay some €250 million, possibly rising to €300 million, for a 25.1% stake in the company.
Doubts as to whether the sale would go ahead nevertheless emerged shortly afterwards and were reinforced in February, when the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) launched an enquiry. Its decision late last month to block the deal on what amounts to a technicality has been followed by contradictory reports related to Solorz-Zak. Initially, it was said that he has begun to have second thoughts about the deal, though more recently he has insisted he has no intention of walking away. Axel Springer, which already has a strong presence in Poland’s publishing sector, has meanwhile said it will definitely lodge another application with the UOKiK.
Although past experience would suggest this saga could drag on and on, a speedy resolution looks increasingly likely. This would certainly be welcome by all parties concerned and help Polsat get on with the job in hand.
Securing a strategic foreign investor may indeed give the broadcaster a slight advantage over TVN, which is owned by the local media holding ITI Group and itself going from strength to strength. However, only time will tell.
