Central
European Media Enterprises Ltd. is a Bermuda corporation
which was incorporated on June 15, 1994. It operates national
and regional commercial television stations and networks
in Central and Eastern Europe. Broadcast licenses are generally
held by companies majority owned by CME's local partners
and CME owns controlling interests in service companies which
provide programming, advertising and other services to the
license holding companies. As of December, 2001 CME owned
the following license companies and service companies:
Country |
License
Expiration |
TV
License Company |
CME
Voting Interest |
TV
Services Company |
Economic
Interest |
CME
Voting Interest |
Romania |
2003-2008 |
Pro
TV S.R.L. |
49% |
MPI |
66% |
66% |
|
|
Media
Pro S.R.L. |
44% |
|
- |
- |
Slovenia |
2003-2007 |
POP
TV |
51% |
Pro
Plus |
85.5% |
78% |
|
2003-2010 |
Kanal
A |
90% |
|
- |
- |
Slovak
Republic |
2007 |
Markiza-Slovakia
s.r.o. |
34% |
STS |
70% |
49% |
Ukraine |
2006 |
Studio
1+1 |
18% |
Innova,
IMS |
60% |
60% |
The
company stations are:
Country |
CME
Station and Networks |
Launch
Date |
Technical
Reach |
2001
Audience Share |
Market
Rank |
Romania |
PRO
TV |
December
1995 |
77% |
23.7% |
1 |
|
Acasa |
February
1998 |
63% |
10.0% |
4 |
Slovenia |
POP
TV |
December
1995 |
85% |
32.5% |
1 |
|
Kanal
A |
October
2000 (1) |
80% |
11.5% |
3 |
Slovakia |
Markiza
TV |
August
1996 |
94% |
50.3% |
1 |
Ukraine |
Studio
1+1 |
January
1997 |
95% |
21.9% |
2 |
(1)
Kanal A began broadcasting on November 1990 and was acquired
by CME on October 2000.
SLOVENIA
Service
Company : Pro Plus
Produkcija
Plus d.o.o. (Pro Plus) is governed by a Partnership Agreement
among CME, MMTV 1 d.o.o. Ljubljana ("MMTV") and
Tele 59 d.o.o. Maribor ("Tele 59"), forming Pro
Plus. Pro Plus provides programming to and sells advertising
for the broadcast licenseholders POP TV d.o.o and Kanal A
as well as additional affiliates. CME currently owns 78%
of the equity in Pro Plus, but has an effective economic
interest of 85.5% as a result of its right to 33% of the
profits of Tele 59. Tele 59 currently owns a 21% equity interest
in Pro Plus and MMTV currently owns a 1% equity interest
in Pro Plus.
License
Companies : POP TV d.o.o and Kanal A
POP
TV d.o.o. is governed by a Partnership Agreement between
MMTV and Tele 59. Tele 59 owns 49% and MMTV 51% in POP TV
d.o.o. This means that CME controls 51% of POP TV d.o.o.
through the Company's ownership interests in Tele 59 and
MMTV. POP TV holds all the licenses for the Slovenian operations
apart from those effectively held by Kanal A. CME owns 10%
of the equity of both Tele 59 and MMTV. CME also owns a 20%
equity interest in MTC Holding d.o.o. ("MTC") which
owns the remaining 90% equity interest in MMTV. A Slovene
holds 76% of MTC's equity in trust for CME.
In
December 2001, following the consolidation of POP TV licences
into the POP TV d.o.o. licence company, Pro Plus entered
into an agreement with POP TV d.o.o., under which Pro Plus
provides all programming to POP TV d.o.o. and sells its advertising.
CME
controls the operations, economics and the programming of
Kanal A. 90% of the equity interest in Kanal A is being held
by Superplus Holding d.d. ("Superplus") which is
owned by individuals who are holding the share of Superplus
in trust for the Company.
POP
TV's programming includes series, movies, news, variety
shows and features. POP TV broadcasts 18 hours of programming
daily, of which approximately 25% is locally produced programming,
including news, game shows, music shows and variety shows.
All foreign language programs and films are subtitled in
Slovenian.
Kanal
A's programming strategy is to complement the programming
strategy of POP TV with a mixture of locally produced and
acquired foreign programs including films and series and
local music shows and basketball. Kanal A broadcasts for
16 hours daily.
CME´s
main shareholder is Ronald S. Lauder who owns 28.5% of the
equity. Ronald S. Lauder is one of the main shareholders
of The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. |