The completion of Czech billionaire Petr Kellner’s (pictured) buyout of broadcast network Central European Media Enterprises (Cme) has raised hackles in Kellner’s native country, where a healthy suspicion of media moguls has been fueled by the prime minister’s own online and print holdings.
Kellner’s company, Ppf, which began the acquisition process of Cme a year ago, paying $1.1 billion for the network, had its purchase approved by regulators and the European Commission last week. The Cme holdings, which comprise leading commercial broadcasters and studios stretching from Prague to Sofia, dominate the regional market, but were thought to be marginal to the core value of AT&T, which acquired them when it merged with Time Warner in 2018.
Kellner has pledged to respect the independence of Cme’s news organizations, announcing, “We want to build on those successes and on the position that these networks occupy in their respective markets as independent broadcasters.
Kellner’s company, Ppf, which began the acquisition process of Cme a year ago, paying $1.1 billion for the network, had its purchase approved by regulators and the European Commission last week. The Cme holdings, which comprise leading commercial broadcasters and studios stretching from Prague to Sofia, dominate the regional market, but were thought to be marginal to the core value of AT&T, which acquired them when it merged with Time Warner in 2018.
Kellner has pledged to respect the independence of Cme’s news organizations, announcing, “We want to build on those successes and on the position that these networks occupy in their respective markets as independent broadcasters.
- 10/22/2020
- by Will Tizard
- Variety Film + TV
Sony’s “The Nightingale,” starring Dakota and Elle Fanning, and an adaptation of Robert Jordan’s “The Wheel of Time” fantasy series, produced by Sony and Amazon Studios, and starring Rosamund Pike, are the latest projects to be hit by the growing spread of coronavirus, with both productions’ European shoots disrupted this week.
Pre-production on “The Nightingale,” from Sony label TriStar Pictures, has been suspended for two weeks in Budapest, while the Prague shoot of “Wheel of Time” was halted, as Central Europe’s biggest production hubs scramble to deal with the fallout of the global pandemic.
Amazon Studios film “Birds of Paradise” has also suspended production in Budapest.
“This is obviously a spanner in the works,” said Matthew Stillman of Stillking Films, who said both Hungary and the Czech Republic were “operating at capacity” before coronavirus began sweeping across Europe. “This is effectively a temporary interruption, but we don...
Pre-production on “The Nightingale,” from Sony label TriStar Pictures, has been suspended for two weeks in Budapest, while the Prague shoot of “Wheel of Time” was halted, as Central Europe’s biggest production hubs scramble to deal with the fallout of the global pandemic.
Amazon Studios film “Birds of Paradise” has also suspended production in Budapest.
“This is obviously a spanner in the works,” said Matthew Stillman of Stillking Films, who said both Hungary and the Czech Republic were “operating at capacity” before coronavirus began sweeping across Europe. “This is effectively a temporary interruption, but we don...
- 3/13/2020
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
It was unfinished business from the brutal days of communist show trials that sparked the idea for “Old-Timers,” a Czech story of cross-country vengeance perpetrated by two actors in their golden years.
Martin Dusek and Ondrej Provaznik, whose documentaries “A Town Called Hermitage” and “Coal in the Soul” both took on the legacy of the pre-Velvet Revolution regime in different ways, say their feature debut was driven by the same desire to deal with crimes that too few people are willing to talk about these days.
The political prosecutions of the 50s are “crimes that are important to these guys but nobody else cares about them,” says Dusek.
In “Old-Timers” Vlasta and Tonda don’t believe they have much longer to live but they do have one more important task ahead of them, say the filmmakers: To find and kill the communist prosecutor who sent them to prison in the 1950s.
Martin Dusek and Ondrej Provaznik, whose documentaries “A Town Called Hermitage” and “Coal in the Soul” both took on the legacy of the pre-Velvet Revolution regime in different ways, say their feature debut was driven by the same desire to deal with crimes that too few people are willing to talk about these days.
The political prosecutions of the 50s are “crimes that are important to these guys but nobody else cares about them,” says Dusek.
In “Old-Timers” Vlasta and Tonda don’t believe they have much longer to live but they do have one more important task ahead of them, say the filmmakers: To find and kill the communist prosecutor who sent them to prison in the 1950s.
- 7/6/2019
- by Will Tizard
- Variety Film + TV
Unless the Czech government steps up on better incentives, warns the country’s leading producers group, more series and films are going to pass it by and film in other locations. “There are many series like that,” said Radek Docekal of Milk and Honey Films, speaking at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival Monday.
Series shoots, which move into the Czech Republic for months and employ scores of crew and actors, are dominating business these days, according to the Audiovisual Producers’ Assn. – which also reported a spike in total money spent this year by incoming productions, $218 million. But that figure should not be seen as a signal to rest easy, the group says.
Netflix, Hulu, Disney and Apple TV may all be shooting projects in the small Central European nation but unless its rebates system, now fixed at 20% of production spends, ratchets up to the same rate as others in the region,...
Series shoots, which move into the Czech Republic for months and employ scores of crew and actors, are dominating business these days, according to the Audiovisual Producers’ Assn. – which also reported a spike in total money spent this year by incoming productions, $218 million. But that figure should not be seen as a signal to rest easy, the group says.
Netflix, Hulu, Disney and Apple TV may all be shooting projects in the small Central European nation but unless its rebates system, now fixed at 20% of production spends, ratchets up to the same rate as others in the region,...
- 7/2/2019
- by Will Tizard
- Variety Film + TV
Poland’s pending film incentives law, offering filmmakers both foreign and domestic 30% cash back on production spends, has been the subject of intense scrutiny of late.
Polish producers, who have been at a disadvantage in a region of Europe where others have long had incentives, are concerned that Poland’s package be competitive, say industry insiders. Meanwhile, finer points in the law are still being negotiated, says the Polish Film Institute’s Anna Dziedzic. The organization, charged with leading the incentive formulation efforts, serves as a keystone in Poland’s film production sector.
“The bill is now in the final stage,” says Dziedzic. “Parliament is working on the last corrections.” Final adjustments are now being drafted, she adds, but says the Pfi is urging that the law be as user-friendly as possible.
In addition, the Pfi, under the administration of Radoslaw Smigulski, is taking on new roles. “Some changes in...
Polish producers, who have been at a disadvantage in a region of Europe where others have long had incentives, are concerned that Poland’s package be competitive, say industry insiders. Meanwhile, finer points in the law are still being negotiated, says the Polish Film Institute’s Anna Dziedzic. The organization, charged with leading the incentive formulation efforts, serves as a keystone in Poland’s film production sector.
“The bill is now in the final stage,” says Dziedzic. “Parliament is working on the last corrections.” Final adjustments are now being drafted, she adds, but says the Pfi is urging that the law be as user-friendly as possible.
In addition, the Pfi, under the administration of Radoslaw Smigulski, is taking on new roles. “Some changes in...
- 11/4/2018
- by Will Tizard
- Variety Film + TV
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