Petition for tvn's bankruptcy denied
The court said the case, which was filed in March 1999, was factually and legally groundless. The court said it planned to issue the written justification of the verdict in one week.
"Although ITI never had any doubt, we are pleased that tvn received such a favorable ruling by the court confirming tvn's standpoint," Bruno Valsangiacomo, CFO of the ITI Holdings, said last week. "ITI is currently evaluating if RF Technology filed the bankruptcy petition purportedly to damage tvn's reputation and to attempt to force bankruptcy on tvn."
Anna Opalska, tvn's lawyer, refused to detail what legal steps ITI was mulling. She also refused to comment further on the case until the court issues the written justification. But she did say that Continental Microwave, RF Technology's parent company, is planning to appeal the decision.
"We will definitely continue our actions in this matter in a civil court and can only be happy that tvn has strengthened its financial position, at least according to the documents shown in court today," Continental's lawyer Piotr Kochański told Reuters last week.
Owned by ITI Holdings, tvn is one of Poland's fastest growing supra-regional commercial broadcasters. Its ad revenue in May jumped to zł. 55 million ($13.75 million) from zł. 27 million ($6.75 million) in March, according to figures from market surveyor AGB Polska, which relies on official price lists. tvn's peer in the regional broadcasting arena, Nasza TV, has not fared nearly as well. Nasza's ad revenue in the same period amounted to zł. 8 million ($2 million).
tvn has also made significant inroads with its popular news program "Fakty." According to Taylor Nelson Sofres, Fakty is among the 10 most popular information programs in Poland. In April, tvn had a national viewershare of approximately 9.81%, according to Taylor Nelson Sofres, and 11%, according to AGB Polska.
On one day, April 27, tvn's viewershare for the first time reached 22.6%. That is the same level as TVP1, the nation's main station run by public broadcaster Telewizja Polska (TVP).
A leading media and entertainment group in Poland, ITI Holding in April became tvn's sole investor after its partner, Central European Media Enterprises (CME) pulled out. CME sold its 33% stake in the station back to ITI for $50 million.
Georg Hotar, an analyst from ICE Securities, said that tvn's performance has improved although CME has exited.
"Which means they (ITI) can do well on their own," he said. "The problem with CME was that it wanted tvn to be similar with other stations and ITI always resisted it. If you look at the success of 'Fakty', whose development CME opposed, ITI was right from the very beginning."
Even before the bankruptcy petition, tvn had been rumored to have financial problems. Despite that, however, ITI managed to attract a new shareholder in May. BRE Bank paid $15 million for 55,556 new shares in ITI Holdings, which represents 7.29% of ITI's capital.
The investment will go both toward tvn's development, as well as the launching of the company's real estate project, the new Multikino mulitplex cinema in Ursynow. Multikino is 50% owned by ITI and 50% by Britain's United Cinema International (UCI).
"This is one of the most dynamic media companies in Poland," said Wojciech Kostrzewa, president of BRE's management board.
That sector has garnered a considerable amount of interest in recent weeks, as two multinational companies have teamed up with Polish-bred concerns. The Netherlands UPC bought media and cable concern @Entertainment almost a month ago, and French conglomerate Vivendi signed an agreement with Elektrim to take a stake in the Polish company's telecommunications subsidiary, Elektrim Telekomunikacja.
"The recent moves that we've seen only confirm how important the Polish telecom and media market is," ITI's Valsangiacomo said.
Valsangiacomo denied that the company is looking for a foreign partner. "From a financial point of view, ITI and tvn respectively are able to push the station forward without any active foreign partner," he said.
In April, however, ITI had reportedly been talking to SBS Broadcasting, which acquired CME this spring. Valsangiacomo refused to comment on whether ITI had talked to SBS recently. "We're talking regularly to the market players because we're regularly approached," Valsangiacomo said. "The only thing I can say is there are many parties now very interested in the Polish market, especially in TV."
"Although ITI never had any doubt, we are pleased that tvn received such a favorable ruling by the court confirming tvn's standpoint," Bruno Valsangiacomo, CFO of the ITI Holdings, said last week. "ITI is currently evaluating if RF Technology filed the bankruptcy petition purportedly to damage tvn's reputation and to attempt to force bankruptcy on tvn."
Anna Opalska, tvn's lawyer, refused to detail what legal steps ITI was mulling. She also refused to comment further on the case until the court issues the written justification. But she did say that Continental Microwave, RF Technology's parent company, is planning to appeal the decision.
"We will definitely continue our actions in this matter in a civil court and can only be happy that tvn has strengthened its financial position, at least according to the documents shown in court today," Continental's lawyer Piotr Kochański told Reuters last week.
Owned by ITI Holdings, tvn is one of Poland's fastest growing supra-regional commercial broadcasters. Its ad revenue in May jumped to zł. 55 million ($13.75 million) from zł. 27 million ($6.75 million) in March, according to figures from market surveyor AGB Polska, which relies on official price lists. tvn's peer in the regional broadcasting arena, Nasza TV, has not fared nearly as well. Nasza's ad revenue in the same period amounted to zł. 8 million ($2 million).
tvn has also made significant inroads with its popular news program "Fakty." According to Taylor Nelson Sofres, Fakty is among the 10 most popular information programs in Poland. In April, tvn had a national viewershare of approximately 9.81%, according to Taylor Nelson Sofres, and 11%, according to AGB Polska.
On one day, April 27, tvn's viewershare for the first time reached 22.6%. That is the same level as TVP1, the nation's main station run by public broadcaster Telewizja Polska (TVP).
A leading media and entertainment group in Poland, ITI Holding in April became tvn's sole investor after its partner, Central European Media Enterprises (CME) pulled out. CME sold its 33% stake in the station back to ITI for $50 million.
Georg Hotar, an analyst from ICE Securities, said that tvn's performance has improved although CME has exited.
"Which means they (ITI) can do well on their own," he said. "The problem with CME was that it wanted tvn to be similar with other stations and ITI always resisted it. If you look at the success of 'Fakty', whose development CME opposed, ITI was right from the very beginning."
Even before the bankruptcy petition, tvn had been rumored to have financial problems. Despite that, however, ITI managed to attract a new shareholder in May. BRE Bank paid $15 million for 55,556 new shares in ITI Holdings, which represents 7.29% of ITI's capital.
The investment will go both toward tvn's development, as well as the launching of the company's real estate project, the new Multikino mulitplex cinema in Ursynow. Multikino is 50% owned by ITI and 50% by Britain's United Cinema International (UCI).
"This is one of the most dynamic media companies in Poland," said Wojciech Kostrzewa, president of BRE's management board.
That sector has garnered a considerable amount of interest in recent weeks, as two multinational companies have teamed up with Polish-bred concerns. The Netherlands UPC bought media and cable concern @Entertainment almost a month ago, and French conglomerate Vivendi signed an agreement with Elektrim to take a stake in the Polish company's telecommunications subsidiary, Elektrim Telekomunikacja.
"The recent moves that we've seen only confirm how important the Polish telecom and media market is," ITI's Valsangiacomo said.
Valsangiacomo denied that the company is looking for a foreign partner. "From a financial point of view, ITI and tvn respectively are able to push the station forward without any active foreign partner," he said.
In April, however, ITI had reportedly been talking to SBS Broadcasting, which acquired CME this spring. Valsangiacomo refused to comment on whether ITI had talked to SBS recently. "We're talking regularly to the market players because we're regularly approached," Valsangiacomo said. "The only thing I can say is there are many parties now very interested in the Polish market, especially in TV."
