Are we about to see a remarkable development in Romania involving two of the leading TV industry companies in Central and Eastern Europe?
Several sources in the country have pointed Broadband TV News to reports in the local press that Adrian Sarbu, the head of CME, could be about to leave the company to join RCS&RDS. They also go on to say that CME have denied what are at this stage of course just rumours.
What these reports arguably do is put the spotlight on two companies that are both going through what could perhaps best be described as a transitional period in their histories.
Take CME, for instance. This February will mark the 19th anniversary of its entrance into the region with the launch of the Czech Republic’s TV Nova. It is no exaggeration to say that the latter took the market by storm, and subsequent station launches in other countries (TVN in Poland, Markiza TV in Slovakia and Pro TV in Romania, to name but three) may not have been as spectacular but were also very successful.
CME has had many ups and downs in its two-decade history and it is true to say that despite now having Time Warner as a strong backer and diversified its business faces challenging times, due in no small part to its over-dependence on TV ad revenue.
RCS&RDS, on the other hand, is no longer in the expansionist mood it was a few years ago with its Digi TV operation and if anything appears to be retrenching. Indeed, its focus is increasingly to be on Hungary and its home market, Romania.
From a Romanian perspective, any possible departure of Sarbu could have a detrimental effect on Pro TV and would of course be beneficial to RCS&RDS. The latter, despite being the leading provider of pay-TV services in the country, continues to face strong competition from UPC and Romtelecom.
