TV Nova boss sacked by new owners
The Czech media scene will never be the same again. After nine years at the helm of the country's first commercial television station TV Nova - general director Vladimir Zelezny has been sacked by the company's new owners. The fifty-eight-year old Mr Zelezny, the man behind TV Nova's astounding success, and a Senator since last November, was always a controversial figure on the Czech media scene after making TV Nova the best performing station in the region and then pushing his Bermuda-based partners out of the business. Now it looks like his career at Nova, marked by business triumphs and legal scandals, may be over once and for all.
But even more controversial was Mr Zelezny's move in 1999, when he pushed the Bermuda-based investor CME out of TV Nova, a step which sparked court battles and led to international arbitration proceedings. Earlier this year, the arbitration court ordered the Czech Republic to pay CME over 350 million dollars in damages for failing to protect its investment in TV Nova by allowing Mr Zelezny to steal Nova from under their noses.
"The reason for the dismissal is the attempt to stop the efforts of some groups in Czech society to connect the problem of the lost arbitration with the name of the largest TV station in the country and stop the name of TV Nova being damaged."
That's how TV Nova's current owners, Czech financial groups PPF and MEF, explained the sacking of Vladimir Zelezny through a spokesman.
The new share and licence holders had probably begun to feel that Mr Zelezny was becoming a liability for Nova and they wanted to protect their investment. Mr Zelezny had long resisted attacks against him, using his "Call the Director" programme to defend his stance, and won political backing, mainly from the opposition Civic Democrats. But CME managed through legal action to force Mr Zelezny to give up his stake in the company holding Nova's licence. On top of that, since 2001 police have also pursued Mr Zelezny for alleged tax fraud and damaging creditors. Although through winning a Senate seat Mr Zelezny was granted immunity last year, the Senate later voted to allow him to be prosecuted.
The dismissal of Mr Zelezny from the post of TV Nova's general director came a day before a Swedish court rejected the Czech appeal against the arbitration and ruled the country has to pay up. At the same time parliament is in the process of electing a new broadcasting council, which could have the power to decide about the future of TV Nova's licence.
In his very last "Call the Director" on Saturday, Vladimir Zelezny commented on his and his station's situation saying "what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger". Now, the future will show whether Vladimir Zelezny emerges from this latest crisis even stronger, or finally on the losing side.
