Final Word from Wednesday, December 15, 2004
CME's purchase of TV Nova is the largest U.S. direct investment in the CR, according to Amb. William Cabaniss. Never mind that the buyer isn't American (it's registered in Bermuda), the seller isn't Czech (it's based in the Netherlands), and the deal could ultimately reduce other inward investment. Advertisers who put more than Kč 8bn annually into the Czech TV market are less than thrilled. CME is paying a premium for Nova and intends to recoup its investment by raising the "cost per point" to advertisers. Czech ad rates are already 30% higher than in Hungary. P&G boycotted Nova for a year before recently having to relent. CME is betting that it can beat the big advertisers at their own game. But advertisers are investors, too, and there's a point at which they'll decide that the Czech television market is too expensive and divert their budgets elsewhere. [Central European Media Enterprises Procter & Gamble CETV foreign]