Adrian Sârbu appointed as the COO of CME

October 18, 2007 on 1:46 am | by Iulian Comanescu | In Print media, Radio, Television |

sarbu-large.jpgAdrian Sârbu, 52, has been appointed as the new Chief Operating Officer of Central European Media Enterprises, a company owned by Estee Lauder’s inheritors and operating in the Czech Republic, Croatia, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine. Sârbu is famous in Romania for launching, on December 1st 1995, Pro TV, the actual leader of the TV market and a revolutionary concept among the Romanian media, based on an American model. He also has developed some other TV projects, such as the very successful women station Acasa TV, and massive print and radio divisions, including a successful business newspaper, two FM stations networks, the leading press agency in Romania and several magazines.

Some allegations about uneven business practices have foreshadowed Sârbu’s career. One of them refers to friendly treatment reserved to the ex-communists in power between 2001 and 2004, in exchange for tax payments postponing. At a certain point, the tax due to the state was more than 40 million US dollars.

Sârbu is famous for his ego-oriented management and his visions transformed into reality. He very seldom appeared in the media, and has only given two interviews, at 1 year and ten years after the Pro TV launching, on his own TV station. He only owns 5% of the companies controlling the TV operations, after recently having sold two 5% stakes to CME - the last one, for 49,8 million US dollars. The ownership of most of the radio, print and internet operations is the same, but the proportions are opposite.

The radio and print operations of Sârbu/CME might become very active, due to Sârbu’s intentions to sell a big part of his participation to CME, stated by unofficial sources.

CME first six months of 2007 results: net revenues - 364.2 million US dollars, operating income - 85.8 million US dollars.

A meeting of the CME investors will begin today, in Bucharest. Some live audio broadcasts and presentation slides will be available on the site of CME, CETV-net.com, today, at 9.30 EET.

esca.jpg
Andreea Esca, the 7 pm news anchor on Pro TV,
a face very familiar to the Romanians

The CME press release:

CENTRAL EUROPEAN MEDIA ENTERPRISES APPOINTS ADRIAN SARBU AS CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

HAMILTON, BERMUDA – October 17, 2007 – Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. (“CME”) (Nasdaq/Prague Stock Exchange: CETV) announced today the appointment of Adrian Sarbu, 52, as Chief Operating Officer of the company. Mr. Sarbu’s appointment is effective immediately.

Adrian Sarbu, CME’s partner in Romania since 1995, has been the leader of CME’s Romanian operations for the past 12 years. Since 2006 he has served as the company’s Regional Director overseeing operations in the Czech Republic, Slovak Republic and Romania. Throughout his tenure Mr. Sarbu has been instrumental in the growth and development of CME’s Romanian assets, which remain a model for the company’s other markets.

“Adrian is the most talented executive that I have worked with and I am proud to announce his appointment today,” said Michael Garin, CME’s Chief Executive Officer. “He has been an incredible asset to CME and has helped guide the company’s development in some of its fastest growing and largest markets. Adrian’s insight and experience will be a valuable resource to our management teams as we continue to empower them to make the best decisions for their individual markets.

During my nearly four-year tenure, CME has consistently increased the proportion of executives from Central and Eastern Europe at the corporate level. Their knowledge of the region combined with their strong professional capabilities has enhanced CME’s performance significantly. The fact that virtually all our station executives come from the countries in which we broadcast differentiates CME from most other international broadcasters and has become a sustainable competitive advantage for the company. I take particular pride in this record.”

Adrian Sarbu commented: “Having spent the last decade at CME I know first hand how talented the station management teams are. I am proud to have the opportunity to work with them all. The most important lesson I have learned in these 10 years is that delivery of strong results year after year will be recognized by the market. CME and local management will continue to focus on improving margins and the development of new opportunities within CME’s current territories and beyond.”

CME is a TV broadcasting company operating leading networks in six Central and Eastern European countries with an aggregate population of approximately 90 million people. The company’s television stations are located in Croatia (Nova TV), Czech Republic (TV Nova, Galaxie Sport), Romania (PRO TV, PRO TV International, Acasa, PRO Cinema and Sport.ro), Slovakia (Markíza, Galaxie Sport), Slovenia (POP TV, Kanal A) and Ukraine (Studio 1+1, Studio 1+1 International, Kino, Citi). CME is traded on the NASDAQ and the Prague Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “CETV”.

# # # # #

For further information visit: www.cetv-net.com, or contact:

Romana Tomasova

Director of Corporate Communications

Central European Media Enterprises

+44 (0)20 7430 5357

romana.tomasova@cme-net.com

Appendix

Adrian Sarbu

Adrian Sarbu, 52, was born in Brasov, Romania. He graduated from the Theatre and Film Academy and became a film director. Between 1980 and 1990 he directed and scripted over 150 short red-films: artistic, documentary and commercial productions.

He was a member of the first Council of the National Salvation Front during the Romanian Revolution of 1989. As State Secretary for Mass-Media in the first Government of Romania in 1990, he promoted the first Romanian audiovisual law, which laid the foundation for independent private-owned television. During the Romanian Revolution Adrian Sarbu made the first documentary of the events. In 1990, after leaving the government he founded Mediapro, a film and television production company. Since then Mediapro has become one of the largest media organizations in Eastern Europe with activities in radio, film and TV production and distribution, print media and Internet.

In 1993, Adrian Sarbu founded PRO TV. CME became a shareholder in 1995. As General Director of PRO TV he initiated the first multichannel strategy in CME including the launch of Acasa, PRO Cinema, PRO TV International and the acquisition of Sport.ro. In 2006 he was appointed Regional Director for Czech Republ

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