Privatizing Czech Television

The old joke is that PPF doesn't need to invest in the media, because it has Petr Dvořák at Czech TV. When MFD related this to Petr Kellner in April 2012, he let it go without responding. But when MFD asked Kellner's government-relations chief, Vladimír Mlynář, about the censorship situation at ČT, he said he would almost consider it a conflict of interest to comment, because of Dvořák. Yet Dvořák hasn't worked for PPF for nine years, at least not officially. Milan Uhde, who heads the ČT Council, told Respekt that he doesn't believe the rumors about Dvořák wanting to privatize the TV station or its land, but he hinted that PPF had a hand in installing Dvořák in the CEO post. To fill out the picture, the tablet-only publication Dotyk wrote last week that ČT, under Dvořák, has rapidly been depleting its Kč 3.5bn reserves. A cash-strapped ČT might have to move to cheaper quarters, allowing its prime land to be sold. Privatizing the station itself wouldn't be so easy, though, and might require creating a disaster of the magnitude of ... Sazka.