Final Word from Thursday, September 7, 2006
TV Nova has it all - power, money and sex. Ex-CEO Vladimír Železný always objected to the "power" part, saying there's a difference between power and influence. But yesterday's out-of-the-blue court decision striking down the awarding of six digital licenses to new broadcasters blurs the line. The decision was worth at least Kč 750m in advertising revenue to TV Nova and confirms the wisdom Ronald Lauder showed in keeping PPF-veteran Petr Dvořák as his man in Prague. The court ruling was the latest in a string of events that expose the myth of digital TV, at least in the near term. Naive people who put money into it failed to understand what they were up against. DTV simply isn't going to happen until Nova decides to allow it. The only weapon now against Nova - and it's a weak one - is to return to Parliament and have it reinstate the right of Czech Television to air commercials.[Czech Republic D-TV CME Central European Media Enterprises CETV]