Czechs facing censure over TV

Date: 13/03/03

THE Czech Republic faces a rap from the European Commission for discriminating against foreign investors in its television market, just over a year before it is set to join the EU.

This follows a legal challenge launched by a Luxembourg-based group, European Media Ventures (EMV), that claims it paid for a licence to operate a TV channel in the Czech Republic - only to see the licence then granted to a rival Czech company, which already controls the country's two main private broadcasters.

EMV claims the Czechs breached a bilateral investment agreement causing it to lose €35 million.

Under the terms of the agreement both sides have six months to solve the row, one of a raft of legal challenges concerning foreign ownership of Czech media. EU officials told European Voice that the Commission would not get involved in the dispute, which could be referred later this year to an international court.

But they said a negative ruling would leave a black mark in the Commission's final report on Czech preparations for joining the Union in May 2004.

Strong words in the Commission's autumn report, they added, would be a clear warning to potential investors to think twice before plunging funds into the country's €220 million TV market.

The Czech Republic faces a rap from the European Commission for discriminating against foreign investors in its television market, just over a year before it is set to join the EU.