Liberty Global’s decision to combine its operations in the Czech Republic and Slovakia makes sense on many levels.
Anyone with knowledge of the two countries will be aware that they share much in common, not just linguistically and culturally but also in terms of their TV industries. Skylink, for instance, is the leading DTH operator in both, while Central European Media Enterprises (CME) owns the most popular TV stations – TV Nova in the Czech Republic and Markiza TV in Slovakia.
In the case of CME, it recently acknowledged the popularity of the two stations in each other’s markets by launching international channels specifically targeting those markets.
Meanwhile, Liberty Global has long been the leading cable operator in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It has also, for now almost 16 years, provided DTH services in both countries.
There is certainly logic to now merge the cable interests, UPC Czech and UPC Broadband Slovakia, in order to take the business forward in what is a highly competitive environment. Local media note that Deutsche Telekom, for instance, has for some time also worked towards integrating its operations in the two countries.
The merger of UPC Czech and UPC Broadband Slovakia, which will officially take place at the beginning of next month, will be initially accompanied by two key senior managerial changes. Martin Miller, the long-time CEO of UPC Broadband Slovakia, will head up the new entity, albeit on a temporary basis, while Frans-Willem de Kloet, the current CEO of UPC Czech Republic, will become CEO of UPC Polska.
The latter is important as Liberty’s Polish operation has been without a head since the departure of Ramiro Lafarga last November.
It will be interesting to if the merger is a ‘one-off’ or just the start of more general restructuring of Liberty Global’s interests in Central and Eastern Europe.
