TV Puls prepares to relaunch

Polish television station TV Puls, which is partly owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, will relaunch on October 28. The new Puls channel will have a broadened scope and aims to overtake both state-owned stations TVP1 and TVP2 as well as private channels TVN and Polsat, though it hasn't given a timeline for doing so.

"This is a market with tremendous opportunity for us," Peter Chernin, president and CEO of News Corp, told Reuters.

"This is where News Corp tends to thrive. You have a reasonably entrenched competition that hasn't been challenged as much as it should," he added.

According to comments made by Murdoch this summer, News Corp has spent at least $50 (zł.138) million on its investment in the television station. News Corp holds a 35-percent stake in Puls, which was founded and previously run by the Franciscan Order in Poland. Many observers had expected the channel to adopt the News Corp's Fox brand, but it will retain its present name for the relaunch, though rebranding has not been completely ruled out.

News Corp is hoping to attract viewers by offering a more polished, modern-looking format. "It feels like there is a need for a channel to reflect a new Poland - modern, future-looking, offering an unparalleled news product that is centrist and unbiased, but also exciting and interesting," Chernin commented. (Reuters)