CME demands CET 21 payment

Media company CME has initiated a new arbitration proceeding against the company that operates TV Nova. CME filed its new lawsuit only three months after winning a $353 million (988 million Kc) judgment from a Stockholm arbitration court as compensation for the government's failure to protect the company's investment in TV Nova. CME filed its new lawsuit Aug. 6 in Vienna. The target of the new arbitration claim is CET 21, the company that holds the license for TV Nova. CET 21, formerly controlled by controversial media figure Vladimir Zelezny, severed ties with CME in 1999. CME says that CET 21's termination of the contract between the two companies was wrongful and claims damages of $275 million. A private limited-liability company, CET 21's equity is only 200,000 Kc. CET 21 spokesman Petr Kostka said that paying the amount of damages CME is seeking would ruin TV Nova. TV Nova Director Petr Dvorak told reporters that CME's action was surprising because CME and CET 21 had been working on a settlement. Michal Donath, director of Donath-Burson-Marsteller, the public-relations firm that represents CME in the Czech Republic, said that the new lawsuit was a result of the Stockholm court's findings.