Silviu Prigoana to sell 2 TV stations for €50 million

Prigoana told Business Standard that the price is not the most important issue being negotiated, but rather the percentage of the business to be sold to the investment funds.

The businessman gained his reputation on the media market with the launch of the first news station, Realitatea TV, followed by the creation of several niche TV stations which he went on to sell. He actually told the press in 2002, when he came onto the media market that he planned to create new stations, and sell them once they became interesting for investors.

Etno TV is currently the highest-rated music station, according to data provided by the Romanian Audience Measurement Association (ARMA), which reported an average daily 22,000 viewers in the January-June period, and some 23,000 daily viewers in July. In fact, the TV station, broadcasting Romanian folk music, had higher ratings than Discovery Channel, National Geographic, and the N24 news TV station.

Prigoana invested some €680,000 in Romania's first news TV station in 2001, selling this to Swiss investment company Bluelink Comunicationi S.A., going on to acquire the local Catavencu media group.

In 2003, Prigoana launched TV Sport, which he sold earlier this year to the Media Pro group for some €8 million. Rebranded as Sport.ro, it has become the highest rated sports station in Romania. This year, Prigoana has sold 10 percent of the digital Max TV platform, for €6.4 million.

The businessman said he used the money he earned from the deals to balance his payments, explaining: "I have made large investments, which I had to recover." Last year, Prigoana purchased a piece of land worth €8 million.

"I I have made large investments, which I had to recover Silviu Prigoana owner, Etno Tv