Central European Media Enterprises (CME) is not for sale but Multimedia Polska is. Why am I not surprised?
Well for a start, in the case of Multimedia Polska, now described as Poland’s number three cable operator – it was previously vying for second place with Vectra – a sale has been on the cards for some. Was it not only a couple of years ago that Liberty Global, following its acquisition of Aster, was being closely linked with the company? I can also remember a time, much earlier, when there was even talk of a possible tie-up with Vectra, though that came to nothing.
Now, we have learnt that Multimedia’s owners plan to dispose of a 49% stake in the company through an IPO, raising as much as $310 million in the process. Whoever buys it, one can only hope that the plurality that currently exists in Polish cable continues.
Indeed, while consolidation to some degree is good and arguably also necessary, competition is better. In Poland we currently have a situation in which UPC, Vectra, Multimedia, Toya and Inea are all genuinely strong players in a market where viewers can also chose from services offered by the DTH platforms Cyfrowy Polsat and nc+.
The top five cable operators will also soon be joined by Netia, which took over some of the networks previously owned by Aster, sold on, at the request of the competition authority, by UPC.
As for CME, an interview in the Czech business newspaper HN with the company’s co-CEOs provided fascinating insights into its future strategy. The quotes contained in it were also fully endorsed by CME, as they were republished on the company’s website.
The clear message was that CME, despite recent rumours, is not for sale. On the other hand, some of its non-broadcast interests, mostly in Romania, certainly are.
There was a particular commitment to TV Nova, though that may have been given due to the HN being focused on the Czech market.
Recent results indicate that the worst may now be over for CME following what have been a few nightmare years. However, there is still an unsettled look about the company, evident in the harsh-looking ‘restructuring’ process currently taking place in its Romanian operation.
On the other hand, CME now has the firm backing of Time Warner and can look to the future with some degree of confidence.
