Under the agreement, as of January 1, 2016, the channels of TV2 Group and the portfolio of Atmedia will be represented jointly in advertising sales. The agreement includes spot, sponsoring, online and BTL sales as well, the announcement says, therefore TV2, Super TV2, Fem3, Pro4 and Atmedia will be included in a joint offer.
The ownership of Hungary’s second largest commercial channel TV2, however, is still unclear.
Zsolt Simon and Yvonne Dederick, who bought TV2 group from Pro7Sat1 in 2013, announced they would be selling the channel to Vajna on October 15, hours before Károly Fonyó, a close business associate of Lajos Simicska, announced that he had acquired a pre-purchase option for the channel at the end of 2013, and bought it two days before on October 13. Yvonne and Simon refuted Fonyó’s claims, and Pro7Sat1 said they would have had a veto right on such a deal, while Vajna said he only knew he “bought” the TV channel but “anything could happen”.
Fonyó’s lawyer said earlier this week that Fonyó had paid for the channel, therefore he is the rightful owner. Fonyó said earlier that he expects a legal battle to be launched for the ownership of the TV channel.
When Vajnaʼs purchase of the channel was announced, speculation arose that he would air governing Fidesz-friendly news. Vajna denied any such claims.
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