EU approves Czech billionaire’s takeover of regional media operator CME

The PPF Group controlled by Czech billionaire Petr Kellner has been given the green light by the European Commission to purchase Central European Media Enterprises (CME), owner of the leading Czech commercial station TV Nova and others in Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.

US Republican senator Marco Rubio had called for a review of the $2.1 billion sale of CME, a subsidiary of the American company AT&T, saying that both the PPF Group and Kellner “have a record of acting as China’s proxies in the Czech Republic”.

AT&T owns 64 percent of CME shares but controls up to 75 percent of the company through preferential shares, Reuters reported. AT&T acquired a stake in CME thanks to a merger with media company Time Warner.