The troubled Serbian station TV Avala has undergone a change of ownership.
According to Balkan Insight, its majority shareholders are now Grand Production and Beohemija, which acquired shares previously held by the media mogul Zeljko Mitrovic, Serbian businessman Danko Djunic and the Economic Institute.
No money has changed hands in the deal, which still has to be approved by the regulator RRA, with the new owners assuming debts which as of 2010 were running at €25.7 million.
A dispute between the staff and TV Avala’s then main owners Danko Djunic (45.65%) and the Austrian company Greenberg Invest (48.41%), reported to have links with Djunic, broke out last December.
It resulted in the suspension of live programming and at one stage threatened the station’s closure.
TV Avala will be re-launched as Narodna TV on January 7 next year.
