Swedish broadcasting firm Modern Times Group has agreed a €96 million ($115m; £65m) deal to buy 50% of the Czech Republic's second biggest commercial TV channel, Prima TV.
MTG bought its stake from GES Media Europe, which only last week denied that the channel's stock was up for grabs.
Prima TV has around 28% of audience share in the Czech Republic, behind leader TV Nova's 42%. The state-owned channels, CT1 and CT2, will stop selling commercial airtime in 2008, leaving around 12% of the advertising market seeking new outlets.
Says MTG president/ceo Hans-Holger Albrecht: "TV Prima's share of viewing and advertising spend has been largely constant over the past few years, but the channel is now investing significantly in programming to boost both viewing and market shares and change the dynamic structure of the market."
Prima TV was launched in 1993 as the country's first commercial TV station. Its schedule includes family oriented entertainment programmes, sports, films and reality shows.
Data sourced from mandmeurope.com; additional content by WARC staff
