Protesters Support Controversial TV Channel

Michael Hedges April 2, 2012 Follow on Twitter

Media owners tend to come in two distinct types. There are the hopelessly boring accountant-types, usually found in old-school companies. Then there are those who really, really like the show biz. It’s a quick guess to decide which get the most attention.

Protesters gathered before the Bucharest headquarters of Romanian media regulator National Audiovisual Council (CNA) shouting slogans and carrying signs supporting television channel OTV. The CNA had voted (March 27) to shorten OTV’s license term by half to six months for “incessantly broadcasting political advertising for the People’s Party,” reported hotnews.ro (March 27). The protesters, who appear to have been bussed in, chanted “CNA, your time will come” then dissolved from a few hundred to several dozen.

Over the last year the CNA has warned then six times fined Ocram Televiziune, owner of OTV, for political advertising outside the election cycle. The colorful and controversial Romanian businessman, talk-show host and politician Dan Diaconescu owns the company. His political party is decidedly populist ,notably called Dan Diaconescu People’s Party (Partidul Poporului – Dan Diaconescu PP-DD), though he has denied being a member after founding it in 2011.

“I have no function in the PP-DD,” he told the CNA board meeting. “Representatives of other parties were present in my shows.” The company was also declared bankrupt by Bucharest court (March 28), which some Romanian media watchers suggested was a mere shuffling of funds. “It is a battle between me and (Romanian president) Traian Basescu.” The court assigned a trustee to oversee recovery of debts.

OTV is described as “extreme tabloid” with “the owner, editor and major star presenter in one person – Dan Diaconescu,” said hotnews.ro (March 27). Prime time (19h00 to 23h00) television audience ratings for February show Pro TV leading with 9.3% rating followed by Antena1 with 5.1%, Kanal D with 3.6%, Antena3 with 3.5% and Acasa with 2.5%. OTV scored a 0.7% rating, reported by paginademedia.ro (March 2).

Market leader Pro TV is owned by Central European Media Enterprises (CME), as is thematic channel Acasa TV.  Kanal D is part of Dogan Media International (Turkey). Intact Media Group, owned by controversial billionaire politician Dan Voiculescu, operates Antena1, Antena2, and Antena3 plus several newspapers and radio stations. 

Real estate mogul Elan Schwartzenberg, equally controversial, acquired Realitatea TV and its related media outlets in 2011 after the previous owner was jailed for blackmail. Far less controversially, ProSiebenSat.1 Media owns Prima TV and a couple of radio stations acquired as part of the SBS merger. Quite tame, by comparison, are the six channels operated by public broadcaster Televiziunea Romana (TVR). The TVR board cut the broadcasters 2012 staff budget (March 28) by 20%.

With the CNA ruling OTV will cease broadcasting September 28th rather than April 1, 2013 when its license was due to expire. The regulator refused (March 29) a company request to review the ruling saying it is “important is that things do not continue in such manner.” Romanian media watchers suggest the decision was based, in part, on preventing Mr. Diaconescu from promoting the PP-DD – and his own presidential ambitions - on his prime time talk show ahead of the 2014 elections.

“It's second time when the CNA is closing this guy’s station,” wrote a Romanian media watcher in an email to ftm (March 30), “but, relax, he has another one.” Indeed, he has. Mr. Diaconescu owns cartoon channel DDTV (oh, could it be Dan Diaconescu TV?), which was fined in 2009 for pirating Warner Brothers content.

See also in ftm Knowledge

Media in South East Europe

The countries of South East Europe are a mix of EU Members - Greece, Romania and Bulgaria - and two on the fringes - Macedonia and Moldova. The region has media billionaires and big broadcasters vying for ad share and market position. Challenges, not just on the fringes, remain daunting. Includes Resources. 56 pages PDF (May 2010)

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