SPI International Czech Republic, which includes the cable and satellite-delivered channels from Filmbox in its portfolio, is to see a change in ownership.
E15 reports that the former director and co-owner Ivan Hronec has decided to sell his stake and to leave the company sometime this year.
He will instead focus his activities on a new company named Film Europe, which will group together, under the brand name CS TV, the channels Doku CS, Kino CS and Musik CS. They will offer Czech and Slovak content from the 70s to the 90s, competing with such services as CS Film and Media Vision’s Retro Music Television.
Kino CS was launched in November 2009 and Doku CS at the beginning of this year. They are distributed by Skylink, O2 TV and Rio Media and have around 100,000 subscribers.
Muzika CS is meanwhile still being trialled and will be distributed by Skylink and – it is also hoped – UPC.
CS TV also plans to launch a pan-European channel named Europa Cinema in early 2011.
