End of the Road for MEGA? Wed 25 May 2016, Thursday & Friday 27 May 2016 will be critical: Consecutive meetings of the Board, shareholders and the lender Banks are taking place to shape the future (or no future) of the first private TV channel that ever broadcasted in Greece. Apart from the internal disagreements between shareholders reported in the press, the fundamental question is: Who is going to invest in a Channel, when only four licenses are going to be auctioned in the near future and estimates are that there are about 18 candidates to compete. So MEGA’s fate looks as a crossword for strong players.
MEDIARISK wishes for the best outcome, as the channel has the longest history in the Greek TV market, more than 400 families of employees see their income threatened, many more stakeholders have indirect incomes coming from MEGA and of course, advertisers will have to move their investments to the rest channels, at a time that TV airtime offer is saturated, which means that cost increases will be inevitable.
This last period, MEGA commands the 20% of all GRPs of the top 5 channels. In case of discontinuation, a percentage of the investment will temporarily be postponed, but all seasonal categories (Ice cream/ Beer/ Sun screens / etc. etc.) cannot afford to abstain and as the channels are working at the maximum allowable quotas of advertising, the only probable result will be a 15-20% cost increase – above the current seasonal peak – leading to CPR increase of 30% plus
