The story
Founded by Mark Palmer and Ronald Lauder.1
CME traces its origins to the Central European Development Corporation (CEDC), an investment company led by Ronald Lauder and Mark Palmer that entered the emerging commercial television market in post-communist Central and Eastern Europe. Its first major venture was TV Nova, which began broadcasting in the Czech Republic in 1994. Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. was incorporated in Bermuda later that year. CME expanded rapidly during the 1990s, launching or acquiring broadcasters including POP TV in Slovenia, Pro TV in Romania and Markíza in Slovakia.
CME lost control of TV Nova in 1999 after a dispute with its Czech business partner Vladimír Železný. The dispute led to international arbitration against the Czech Republic, which ended in CME's favour in 2003 and resulted in compensation of about US$353 million including interest and costs. CME regained control of Nova in 2005 after acquiring an 85% stake in the television group from PPF for about US$630 million.
Time Warner acquired a 31% economic interest in CME in 2009 and later gained control of the company. In 2010, CME sold its Ukrainian operations and acquired the Bulgarian bTV group from News Corporation for US$400 million.
In 2019, CME agreed to be acquired by PPF Group in a deal valued at about US$2.1 billion. The acquisition was completed in October 2020 after approval by the European Commission. Under PPF, CME expanded its streaming business through Voyo. In 2022, it acquired RTL Croatia from RTL Group, returning to the Croatian television market.
From Wikipedia’s article on Central European Media Enterprises, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5