Josef Benda, MediaTalk 8th March 2011

8 March 2011 Media Education CEE - Media Talk

Czech Print Media:Dominance of Capital Groups?

JUDr. PhDr. Josef Benda, Ph.D., LL.M.


Print Media in the Czech Republic

Print media a) newspapers (dailies) (i) national(ii) regional (local)

b) magazines

Individual countries of the European Union have different structure of the print media, as well as different ways of the media consumption. Northern part of Europe has higher ratio of print media consumption than the southern part: Great Britain vs. France

Czech Republic: - the national newspapers are more important and more influential than the regional (and local) ones- the structure of the daily newspapers is comparable to other European countries


Legal Regulation of Czech Print Media

• General principles are contained mainly in the Decree No. 2/1993 Coll., the Declaration of Basic Rights and Freedoms, as amended

• There is no general „Media Law“ regulating the media as a whole; instead, there is a handful of acts regulating individual segments of media

• Regulation of print media is contained in the Act. No. 46/2000 Coll., the Press Act, as amended

• Issues related to the economic competition are treated in the Act. No.143/2001 Coll., on Protection of Economic Competition, as amended





• The Czech legal regulation of print media ownership is extremely liberal:– No limits or requirements on vertical

concentration– The limits on horizontal concentration are set

by the Act on Protection of Economic competition only: 40% of the „relevant market“, the criterion is annual turnover

– No limits on diagonal concentration



• The definition of „relevant market“ is problematic• Czech regulatory body in the field of economic

competition, The Office for Protection of Competition (ÚOHS), ruled (e.g. in its resolution file no. S 110/01 – 2032/01 from 2. 11. 2001) that the relevant market in the field of dailies includes both national and regional daily newspapers in one segment; this is contrary to the position of regulatory bodies in Poland and Hungary



Czech National Daily Newspapers

• Clear dominant position of only two companies, both foreign-owned; their owners are publishers in Germany/ Switzerland

• MAFRA, a.s., 100% owned by German company Rheinisch-Bergische Verlagsgesellschaft mbh (publisher of Mladá fronta DNES and Lidové noviny dailies)

• Ringier Axel Springer CZ, a.s., 100% owned by Swiss company Ringier Axel Springer AG (publisher of Blesk, Aha! and Sport dailies)

• Three dailies are Czech-owned: Právo (91,74% of its publisher, BORGIS a.s., is owned by Zdeněk Porybný), Hospodářské noviny (owned by Handelsblatt Investments B.V., whose owner is Czech entrepreneur Zdeněk Bakala) and Haló noviny (predominantly owned by KSČM, the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia)

• High vertical concentration• Horizontal concentration• Decreasing circullation• Decreasing readership




name publisher owner average sold circullation, September 2006 //January 20111)

readership2+3 Q 2006 //3+4 Q 20102)

Blesk Ringier Axel Springer CZ a.s.(ZOR 13. 8. 1991, established 10. 6. 1991)

Ringier Axel Springer Media AG, Switzerland 100 % 464 346 //366 418

1 506 000 //1 370 000

Mladá fronta DNES

MAFRA, a. s. (ZOR 31. 1. 1992, established 31. 12. 1991)

Rheinisch-Bergische Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Germany 74 %, MAF a.s. (ZOR 22. 8. 1990, established 27. 7. 1990, 100 % owned by RBVG) 26 %

312 994 //226 944

1 116 000 // 819 000

Právo BORGIS a.s. (ZOR 4. 10. 1990, established 16. 9. 1990)

Zdeněk Porybný (Czech natural person) 91,74 %minor shareholders 8,26 %

161 055 //123 068

464 000 // 402 000

Lidové noviny MAFRA, a. s. (ZOR 31. 1. 1992, established 31. 12. 1991)

Rheinisch-Bergische Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Germany 74 %, MAF a.s. (ZOR 22. 8. 1990, established 27. 7. 1990, 100 % owned by RBVG) 26 %

82 086 // 46 121

216 000 // 203 000

Hospodářské noviny

Economia, a.s. (ZOR 25. 4. 1990, established 3. 4. 1990)

Handelsblatt Investments B.V., The Netherlands 100 % owned by natural person Zdeněk Bakala via the company BXR MEDIA LIMITED, Cyprus

65 184 // 42 027

202 000 // 179 000

Haló noviny FUTURA, a.s. (ZOR 27. 3. 1991, established 19. 3. 1991)

ÚV KSČM 67 %OV KSČM Praha 5,1 %OV KSČM Praha 6,6 %OV KSČM Hradec Králové 6 %Pražská rada („Prague council“) 1 %14 natural persons (total share) 19 %

n.a. //n. a. (estimate 30–40 000)

n.a. // n.a. (estimate 40–50 000)

Sport Ringier Axel Springer CZ a.s. (ZOR 13. 8. 1991, established 10. 6. 1991)

Ringier Axel Springer Media AG, Switzerland 100 % 72 041 // 47 360

300 000 // 254 000

Aha! Ringier Axel Springer CZ a.s. (ZOR 13. 8. 1991, established 10. 6. 1991)

Ringier Axel Springer Media AG, Switzerland 100 % 101 069 94 299

209 000 // 238 000

1) Source: Audit Bureau of Circulation ČR (ABC ČR); 2) sSource: MEDIA PROJEKT 2006, MEDIA PROJEKT 2010; n.a. – not participating at the audit of ABC ČR; foreingn companies are listed in italics. ZOR – date of inscription to the Commercial Register

Czech National Daily Newspapers


Czech Regional Daily Newspapers

• Factual monopoly of the company VLTAVA-LABE-PRESS, a.s., owned by the Austrian company HKM Beteiligungs GmbH, a subsidiary of the German holding POL-Print GmbH & Co. Medien KG, which is co-owned by the German publishers Verlagsgruppe Passau GmbH (80%) and Rheinisch-Bergische Verlagsgesellschaft mbh (20%): high horizontal concentration

• The only other regional dailies are two free dailies, Metro (published by METRO Česká republika, s.r.o., controlled by MAFRA, a.s. (60%) and E15, published by Mladá Fronta a.s., owned by American holding EUROPEAN FINANCIAL SERVICES, INC.

• The criterion for „daily newspaper“, i.e. to be issued at least twice a week, fulfil four other titles: Horácké noviny, Jihlavské listy, Orlický týdeník (all issued twice a week) and polish title Głos ludu

• High vertical concentration• Decreasing circullation• Decreasing readership




Czech Regional Daily Newspapers

name average sold circulation, September 2006/January 20111)

readership 2+3Q 2006 //3+4Q 20102)

Deník Čechy (until 17. 9. 2006 Deníky Bohemia) total 210 392 // n.a. 803 000 // 517 000

Deník západní Čechy (until 17. 9. 2006 Západočeské deníky Bohemia) 52 413 //n.a. 176 000 // 90 000

Deník východní Čechy (until 17. 9. 2006 Východočeské deníky Bohemia) 49 484 //n.a. 192 000 // 130 000

Deník severní Čechy (until 17. 9. 2006 Severočeské deníky Bohemia) 40 563 //n.a. 187 000 // 82 000

Deník – Jihočeský kraj (until 17. 9. 2006 Jihočeské deníky Bohemia) 38 349 //n.a. 130 000 // 104 000

Deník střední Čechy + Pražský deník (until 17. 9. 2006 Středočeské deníky Bohemia) 29 583 //n.a. 118 000 // 111 000

Deník Morava (until 17. 9. 2006 Deníky Moravia) total 134 685 //n.a. 495 000 // 359 000

Deník střední a východní Morava (until 17. 9. 2006 Středo- a východomoravské deníky Moravia) 32 616 //n.a. 134 000 // 89 000

Deník – Moravskoslezský kraj (until 17. 9. 2006 Severomoravské a slezské deníky Moravia) 45 804 //n.a. 154 000 // 94 000

Deník – Jihomoravský kraj (until 17. 9. 2006 Jihomoravské deníky Moravia) 39 476 //n.a. 134 000 // 122 000

Deník – kraj Vysočina (until 17. 9. 2006 Vysočina deníky Moravia) 16 789 //n.a. 73 000 // 54 000

Deník Česká republika (until 17. 9. 2006 Deníky Bohemia a Moravia) total 345 077 // 220 543 1 298 000 // 876 000

1) Source: Audit Bureau of Circulation ČR (ABC ČR); 2) sSource: MEDIA PROJEKT 2006, MEDIA PROJEKT 2010; n.a. – not participating at the audit of ABC ČR;


• The market is dominated by publishers owned by foreign companies (mainly from Finland, Germany, USA, France and Switzerland)

• The overwhelming majority of foreign owners of Czech publishers are publishers themselves

• The segment of economic weeklies is dominated by Czech publishers, who are owned by Czech capital groups, contrary to the segment of newsweeklies

• Some publishers are vertically concentrated


Czech Magazines


Economic Weeklies

Newsweeklies

title publisher owner average soldcircullation, January 20111)

readership3+4 Q 20102)

Ekonom Economia a.s. Handelsblatt Investments B.V., The Netherlands (owned by the

company BXR MEDIA LIMITED, controlled by natural person Zdeněk Bakala)

16 516 95 000

EURO ekonomický týdeník

EURONEWS a.s. PPF a.s. (owned by Czech natural persons Petr Kellner (95%), and Jiří Šmejc (5%))

22 495 80 000

Nový profit Stanford a.s. KKCG Investments B.V., The Netherlands 59,4%

Mgr. Jan Kreidl 6,6%GENERRA LIMITED, Cyprus 34%

21 310 37 000

Czech Magazines


title publisher owner average soldcircullation, January 20111)

readership3+4 Q 20102)

Respekt Respekt Publishing a.s. BXR MEDIA LIMITED (98,41%, the company is controlled by Zdeněk Bakala)

31 852 95 000

Týden Mediacop, s.r.o. Pawlowski AG, Switzerland (Sebastian Pawlowski 100%)

37 342 165 000

Instinkt Mediacop, s.r.o. Pawlowski AG, Switzerland (Sebastian Pawlowski 100%)

26 311 137 000

Reflex Ringier Axel Springer CZ, a.s.

Ringier Axel Springer AG (100%) 59 990 293 000

1) Source: Audit Bureau of Circulation ČR (ABC ČR); 2) sSource: MEDIA PROJEKT 2006, MEDIA PROJEKT 2010; n.a. – not participating at the audit of ABC ČR; foreingn companies are listed in italics.



Advertising Expenditure in 1990-2006

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

print media

310 980

2757

3460

3800

3620 4300 4800 5000 5100 5450 5780 5940 5980 6050 6130 6220

TV 40 167

1050

1800

2700

3100 3800 4400 5300 5430 5710 6060 7180 7860 8300 8580 8670

radio n.a. n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

594 710 740 850 910 985 1040 1090 1150 1190 1230 1300

outdoor

n.a. n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

741 880 950 950 960 1015 1070 1090 1140 1150 1170 1220

INTERNET

- - - - - - - - 25 55 110 150 190 260 310 420

550

Other 24 244 925 1110 1415 180 210 230 195 200 210 220 230 240 255 270

290

total 374 1017 4732 6370 7915 8235 9900 11 120 12 320 12 655 13 400 14 320 15 720 16 630 17 255 17 800

18 250

Documents

Josef Benda, MediaTalk 8th March 2011