PPF wants less politics coverage in Markíza and controls HN daily
Vladimír Mužík, CEO of publisher Mafra (HN daily), has been appointed to the new position of director for digital transformation at Markíza. Mužík will now hold both positions, which is rather unusual. While CME is owned by PPF (Renáta Kellnerová), Mafra is officially owned by the Czech businessman Karel Pražák. He is close to PPF, which also owns a minority stake in the Slovak telecom operator O2, toll company SkyToll and Škoda Transportation, a supplier of trains for the state railways.
Michal Kratochvíl, the new head of news at Slovakia's most popular TV channel, Markíza, is pushing for less emphasis on political news and prefers positive lifestyle topics. A similar strategy has been successful at the Czech TV Nova, also owned by CME, where Kratochvíl previously worked. This is happening in a situation where Smer is boycotting Markíza, along with the dailies N and Sme and the aktuality.sk portal.
