Serbia's Pink TV Shifts Cable Channels to Bosnia

Pink Music, Pink Movies, Pink Family, Pink Kids, Pink Erotica and other 63 Pink TV channel no longer exist on Serbian cable networks.

The Serbian broadcasting, RRA, on Wednesday revoked the license to broadcast 68 Pink cable channels before it expired on the company's request.

Meanwhile, Pink has applied for a license to broadcast on cable in Bosnia and Herzegovina where the programme distribution is cheaper. According to the Bosnian broadcasting agency, RAK, 20 Pink cable channels have obtained a license.

Pink will not lose its Serbian fan base as cable channels from the region do not require special permits from domestic regulators.

Pink has not commented on the issue.

Pink is known as a producer of mass entertainment, popular programmes. Its owner, Zeljko Mitrovic, began his business activities in the 1990s, in a media environment that was tightly controlled by Serbia's then ruling couple, Slobodan Milosevic and Mirjana Markovic.

The mogul’s Pink TV channel pioneered a new kind of populist programming, playing “turbo-folk” music and promoting nationalism. Warriors and singers rubbed shoulders on its prime-time slots.

The channel had the exclusive rights to broadcast the “wedding of the century” – the marriage of the paramilitary chief Zeljko Raznatovic, aka Arkan, and the turbo-folk diva, Ceca.

Since then, Pink’s empire has spread to Bosnia, Macedonia, Slovenia and Montenegro. It currently has 15 satellite channels as well as a film studio near Simanovci, near Belgrade.

However, the group’s fortunes have waned during the recent economic downturn. Pink Slovenia has failed to deliver, and several firms owned by Mitrovic are in financial trouble.