Liberty Global’s decision to buy a 40% stake in the Bosnian broadcaster OBN is significant on a number of levels.
For a relatively modest outlay, the company has gained itself a foothold in one of Central and Eastern Europe’s more forgotten TV markets. At the same time, it has re-entered the former Yugoslavia, having previously had a presence in Slovenia, where it sold its UPC operation to Mid Europa Partners (MEP) in 2009.
Furthermore, the acquisition of the stake in OBN has also been made through Liberty Global’s international content company Chellomedia. In Liberty’s own words, this will allow Chello Central Europe to create a hub for launching more pay-TV channels.
By buying into OBN Liberty Global has also sent out a message to the effect that it remains committed to developing its operations in Central and Eastern Europe. It comes at a time when unconfirmed local press reports earlier week in Romania said that talks over a possible sale of UPC Romania to RCS&RDS had broken down. Meanwhile in Poland, Liberty Global’s acquisition of Aster still remains on hold nine months after it was first announced, with the competition authority UOKiK apparently insisting that UPC Polska has to sell some of its assets before the deal is completed.
Liberty Global’s move into Bosnia is also a vote of confidence for a country that was devastated by war in the early 1990s and still remains divided into two separate entities – the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (largely Bosniak and Croat) and Republika Srpska (mostly Serb).
Its TV industry, too, is to some degree divided, with public service broadcasters serving the two entities alongside a national station (Radio and TV of Bosnia and Herzegovina) and several commercial services.
The latter include OBN, which has near national coverage, and with the backing of Liberty Global it is likely to become an even more important player.
