Euronews and Telekom to Start Serbian TV Channel

European international news channel Euronews and HD WIN, a company owned by Telekom Serbia, are starting a new news channel and digital platform called Euronews Serbia, designed for audiences in Serbian-speaking areas, it was announced on Monday, just before French President Emmanuel Macron began an official visit to Belgrade.

A press release said that before the first broadcasts start, Euronews Serbia will hire about 100 people locally, including an editor-in-chief. It will also establish an editorial board.

Michael Peters, managing director or Euronews and a member of the French presidential delegation to Serbia, said that the start of Euronews Serbia channel offered further confirmation of the reliability and attractiveness of the Euronews brand, the press release said.

Predrag Culibrk, managing director of Telekom Serbia, said his company was "pleased to have an opportunity to enable the Serbian audience in Serbia and the region to watch Serbian-language programs under the brand and standards of one of the biggest media companies in Europe and the world".

Telekom Serbia, a joint-stock company in which the Serbian state has 58-per-cent ownership, deals with landline and mobile telecommunications, the internet, cable operating and media broadcasting.

Its expansion in the media field came under scrutiny at the end of 2018, after it bought Kopernikus Technology, a cable operator, for 195 million euros from the Polish investment fund Adris and from Serbian businessman Srdjan Milovanovic, whose brother is an official in the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, SNS.  A month later, Kopernikus bought two Serbian TV stations, Prva TV and O2, for 180 million euros.

Critics said the unusually costly purchase was designed more to help...