Bulgaria’s Council for Electronic Media (CEM) has refused to register a new channel named News TV, which is being developed by the Burgas-based Praimedia.
Capital reports that after a month of delays, the regulator has taken the decision due to poorly developed documents about the proposed new channel, along with the duplication of its content with that carried by the channels TV7 and News7.
Furthermore, according Anna Hadzhieva, a member of the council, there is also lack of clarity as to the origin of funds that would be used for the channel.
In response, Asen Asenov, the manager of Praimedia, has said that new documentation is now being prepared and a new name will be used for the channel. However, he did not discuss the issue of funding.
Praimedia has spent over half a year trying to become listed as the new owner of TV7, which operates the national channels TV7, Super7 and News7.
Having failed to do so, it decided to create a new channel based on the programming of TV7 and News7.
As previously reported in Broadband TV News, the sale of TV7 to Praimedia appeared to have collapsed in November.