Media business operations

The Tax Administration of Serbia has published on its website a list of 1,000 biggest tax debtors, which includes two of the leading media companies in Serbia: Radio-Television Serbia (RTS) and TV Pink. According to data from the Tax Administration, the debt owed by the public service broadcaster, RTS, has grown from 173 to 357 million dinars.
(Informer, Blic, 05.07.2012)

The strike of employees of TV Cacak, which began last Monday, is still ongoing. The company has also incurred a huge debt exceeding 16 million dinars, which is why the employees do not have even basic preconditions for work. The TV station is currently broadcasting only series, films and advertisements.
(Vecernje novosti – Serbia, 05.07.2012, Politika, UNS, NUNS, 06.07.2012)

In an article published by the RAB newsletter, Dusan Masic says: "In Great Britain, TV advertising is seven times more expensive than advertising on the radio. In Serbia, it is much more expensive than that. Those who think that digital advertising is most important should also consider advertising on the radio. The radio and the digital world can (and should) be viewed together because a half of internet users listen to radio online during a week. Also, a fifth of them always listens to radio while surfing the Internet. If you send a message to online radio listeners asking them to visit a website, chances that they will do that increase by 52% as compared with an online-only campaign. At the same time, internet banners and pop-up ads are avoided by 65% and 73% of users, respectively, while only 18% of radio listeners avoid advertisements.
(RAB Newsletter, 09.07.2012)

Yesterday, in the Commercial Court in Nis, the bankruptcy proceedings against RTV 5 was rescheduled again. The proceedings were initiated because the bank account of the TV station had been blocked for a long time due to huge debt. This is the only TV station that has been subjected to bankruptcy proceedings.
(Blic, 11.07.2012)

A radio station from Belgrade, Radio MIP, stopped broadcasting its programe yesterday because of financial difficulties, announced the editor-in-chief of the station, Zarko Obradovic, according to press statement issued by the Journalists' Association of Belgrade (UNS). Employees of the station claim that Radio MIP was owned by the Football Club "Partizan" although it had formally been founded by the recently bankrupted company Mipos d.o.o. Obradovic said that the football club had bought the radio station on January 1, 2001, while its programe had been broadcast since 1997. The bank account of Mipos d.o.o. has been blocked for more than a year. In Obradovic's words, the owners were not interested in survival of the radio station.
(Beta, Politika, 13.07.2012)

After a meeting held yesterday, the electronic media in Krusevac announced that they would not accept the January and February bills delivered to them by Sokoj because of increased royalty tariffs as compared with the last year. In their words, the amount of tariffs has been increased almost four-fold.
(Blic, 14.07.2012)

Electronic media outlets from Krusevac have sent a letter of protest to Sokoj, protesting the four-fold increase in this year's January and February bills. "We want to know which criteria were used to justify the increase in tariffs and whether those who make such decisions have any idea how difficult is the position of the media in Serbia", says the press statement issued by representatives of TV Krusevac, TV Plus, TV Jefimija, Radio Antena and Radio Rubin. The statement points out that media outlets in Krusevac are not willing nor objectively able to pay the increased tariffs, and that therefore they returned the invoices sent to them by Sokoj, demanding their reconsideration. Sokoj representatives say that they have not received the letter. We have not been able to obtain a response from them even after we sent them the protest letter, reports the daily newspaper Danas.
(Danas, 18.07.2012)

The Association of Electronic Media of Vojvodina (AEMV) announced today its intention to begin the process of establishing a Vojvodina analogue to Sokoj, if it turns out impossible to reach an agreement on minimal royalty fees with Sokoj. At at press conference, AEMV said that Sokoj had increased royalty fees on music and other works and that the amount of the fees is excessive taking into account the revenue of radio and TV stations in Vojvodina. According to words of the secretary of AEMV, Aleksandar Dukic, not a single commercial station will be able to pay such fees, because the minimal monthly fees to be paid by radio stations would amount to 100,000 dinars.
(RTV, 18.07.2012)

Radio-Television Smederevo has sent three journalists to a prolonged 45-day paid leave until its debt to Electrical Power Company is paid, i.e. until economic conditions improve, says the director of the station, Goro Redzic.
(Beta, NUNS, UNS, 17.07.2012, Pregled, 18.07.2012)

Privatization and the state-owned media

When one of the former employees of Vecernje Novosti dies – one of those who have been robbed in an illegal privatization, the only thing I can do is write a newspaper article and remind the Serbian public about the injustice that was done to us, says an article written by Natasa Markovic. In the meantime, five of our colleagues have died while waiting for justice in Serbia. "The case of the Novosti company" is one of the cases that is on the list of 24 privatizations whose investigation is being demanded by the EU.
(Danas – weekend edition, 07.07.2012)

The Privatization Agency has terminated the contract on privatization of the Newspaper Publishing Company Nas Glas since the buyer, Zodufin d.o.o. Belgrade, has not paid its obligations in accordance with the contract. The value of the capital amounted to 369,000 euros, while the buyer has so far paid only three installments of 34,000 euros each.
(Vecernje novosti – Serbia, 14.07.2012)

As of July 16, the oldest newspaper in the Balkans, Politika, has a new owner. 50 percent of its capital is now owned by the company East Media Group from Moscow. The Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and the United Regions of Serbia (URS) claim that the Democratic Party (DS) and tycoons with close ties to DS are behind the transfer. The website of the Business Register Agency shows that the ownership structure was changed on July 16, 2012. An Austrian company, Ost Holding Gmbh, was removed from the ownership structure, while the company OOO East Media Group, headquartered in Moscow, is now one of the owners, with a share of 50 percent. The Managing Board of the Media Association considers that the change in the ownership structure of the daily newspaper Politikahas been non-transparent and expects an immediate response from authorities that would make transparent the ownership structure of the oldest daily newspaper in the Balkans.
(NUNS, B92, Beta, Tanjug, Vecernje novosti, 17.07.2012, Blic, Press, Kurir, 24 sata, 18.07.2012)

Almost overnight, an obscure Russian company East Media Group has become the owner of 50 percent of shares of the company Politika Novine i Magazini, which owns the daily newspaper Politika, reports the media in Belgrade. While WAZ was one of the owners of Politika, the newspaper was controlled by the state. Press department of the Committee for Protection of Competition says that it lacks information about whether the company East Media Group has taken over control over Politika due to some new agreement. The management of Politika unofficially said that they had not been informed either. "We found out that we were sold to East Media Group when we saw the information on the website of the Business Registers Agency. At the moment, we are not aware of any details about the sale, and we don't know who is behind the company that bought us", says Zefirino Grasi, the general director of Politika a.d. "We learned about the new developments after one of our associates downloaded the data from the website of the Business Registers Agency. I have no other information besides that and I had not been informed about the sale beforehand", says Grasi.
(Politika, Beta, Danas, 18.07.2012)

The daily newspaper Politika has a new owner, since 50 percent of the shares of the company was bought from the German group WAZ by the company East Media Group, registered in Moscow, said yesterday the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), reports Tanjug. SNS has accused the Democratic Party (DS) of being behind the decision to sell the ownership share of WAZ, pointing out that the change in ownership was done overnight and in a non-transparent manner, violating the freedom of the media. The Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS) says that according to their sources, one of the financiers of the DS, Miroslav Bogicevic, is connected to the East Media Group, and that during several months there were rumors of him financing the transaction.
(Tanjug, Pregled, Alo!, 18.07.2012)

The owner of the company "Farmakom", Miroslav Bogicevic, said that he had not bought the daily newspaper Politika, and that he had not been involved in that deal in any way.
(Tanjug, 18.07.2012)

"Insinuations made by the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) about my involvement in the change of ownership over the newspaper publishing company 'Politika a.d.' are completely untrue and not worthy of any further comment", said Minister Dusan Petrovic to Tanjug.
(Tanjug, NUNS,18. 07. 2012)

News agency Beta reports that a contract shows that out of the total purchasing price, the seller – the Austrian company Ost Holding, owned by WAZ – has already received four million euros, while the remaining 700,000 euros are to be paid on December 1, 2014. The contract states that the company "Politika a.d.", which is the owner of the remaining 50 percent of "Politika PNM", "has not exercised its right of first purchase". "Politika a.d." is directly or indirectly in majority ownership of the state. The contract on the sale of a half of the shares of "Politika PNM" was signed on June 29 by Uros Stefanovic, the director of East Media Group, on behalf of the buyer, and Mark Mickas and Folker Venc, on behalf of the seller, Ost Holding. It seems that employees of Politika and its senior executives had not been aware of what was going on. The director of Politika, Zefirino Grasi, confirmed in the today's edition of Politika that the media conglomerate WAZ, which owns the Ost Holding company from Vienna, had offered "Politika a.d." its 50 percent of shares in accordance with the right of first purchase. After the purchase of the majority of shares, East Media Group is obliged to request approval from the Committee for Protection of Competition not later than 15 days after the registration of the change in ownership.
(Beta, RTV B92, 18.07.2012)