Telekom Serbia CEO Vladimir Lucic continued his campaign against the United Media management in Wednesday’s appearance on TV Pink.
Lucic said he has the right to defend himself and went on to list reasons why United Media CEO Aleksandra Subotic should be dismissed. He repeated his groundless claims that Subotic is interfering in the editorial policies of United Media outlets and called on BC Partners (the majority owners of UM’s parent company United Group) to appoint “some foreigner” who he claimed would guarantee the independence of those media outlets.
The Telekom CEO confirmed the authenticity of the audio recording of his conversation with United Group CEO Stan Miller which was published by OCCRP. UG confirmed earlier that the recording was authentic. In it, Miller and Lucic discussed the fact that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic expected Subotic’s swift removal as allegedly promised by BC Partners senior official Nikos Stathopoulos to Vucic.
Lucic is now repeating that same demand and exerting public pressure on United Group to meet it.
Lucic Says he wanted N1, Nova but removed them the day he took over the platforms
Lucic also told TV Pink that he “offered to make N1 and Nova S part of the Telekom network”. In actuality, the state-owned telecoms operator removed N1 and Nova S from its offer the day it took over the NettTV Plus and Total TV platforms. “Telekom had all the rights and a valid contract that allowed it to keep broadcasting N1 and Nova, but it decided to remove them, a fact Lucic is now trying to conceal,” United Media said at the time.
Telekom took over both platforms by purchasing NettTV from United Group and Total TV from Yettel, and the N1 and Nova channels were removed immediately after the takeover—despite the fact that there was no request, negotiation issue, or obstacle preventing them from remaining available to viewers in the diaspora and on the Total TV platform.
If Lucic really wanted N1 to be part of the offer, we call on him to immediately restore the channels. Responsibility for denying our signals to viewers cannot be shifted onto others through manipulation of the facts.
Source: N1
