Slovakia’s media landscape – electronic media

Since the Republic of Slovakia gained independence in 1993 (previously Czechoslovakia), a dual system of public sector and private electronic media has been established.

Radio broadcasters: a new path at the beginning of the 90s

At the beginning of the 90s, several private stations were set up, which used the existing state broadcasting network. An example from this time is FUN Radio (www.funradio.sk), a joint, French-Slovakian project which belongs to the most influential stations in the Slovakian radio scene.

The most important Slovakian radio project was Radio Twist, established by the actor Andy Hryc at the beginning of the 90s. For a long time, the station maintained its position as number one among the private radio stations, but in the past few years it lost some of its audience share due to inscrutable manipulation of ownership and a change to the programme structure linked to this. Radio Twist was renamed as Radio VIVA on 3 April 2006 (www.radioviva.sk).

The market leader among radio stations is the private station Radio Expres (www.expres.sk), with an audience share of 23% (as of Nov 2008). It was sold to the American investment group Emmis in 2005. The station Slovensko 1 (Slovakia 1) of the Slovakian public sector broadcaster Slovenský Rozhlas (www.rozhlas.sk) follows in second place with 17%.

Television: private channel Markíza the market leader

In 1996, the third state TV channel was sold to the first private TV company in Slovakia, TV Markíza (www.tv.markiza.sk). Within three years, it had become the sole market leader. The two channels of the public sector Slovakian television broadcaster STV pose no threat to its dominance.

It was only in 1999 that another private TV channel was created – TV Luna, later called TV Global. At the beginning of 2002, Global was sold to the Czech NOVA and, under the name TV JOJ (www.joj.sk) and with an extended broadcasting frequency, became the number three on the Slovakian TV market.

In 2001, the news channel TA3 (www.ta3.com) was added to the Slovakian TV scene and in December 2003, the music channel Music Box (www.musicboxtv.sk) was started.

Problems facing public sector TV broadcaster STV

After a brief high between 2004 and 2006, the public sector TV broadcaster STV (www.stv.sk) became increasingly mired in problems. The successful talent-spotting show ‘Slovakia seeks a superstar’ ended in 2006. Two STV general directors threw in the towel, since there was a lack of funds for production and broadcasting operations. Legal amendments brought about no changes to the broadcaster’s financing system. Despite its financial problems, STV set up a sports channel in August 2008 – STV3. STV3 is trying to become established in a market which has till now been dominated by Czech sports channels.

The highest audience figures (as of Nov 2008) are currently enjoyed by TV Markíza with 62%, followed by TV JOJ with 31% and STV 1 with 28%. TV Markíza’s market share is a steady 49%, ahead of TV JOJ with 18% and STV 1 with 15%.

City television

Local TV channels are operated by several towns and also by districts in Bratislava. These are either run by the town authorities themselves or are delegated to private production companies. Their broadcasting times are limited to a few hours a day. Their programmes concentrate on local current affairs and regional news.

Since autumn 2006, one of these TV channels has been TV Bratislava (www.tvba.sk). It concerns itself with local topics from the Slovakian capital and can be received via the cable network in the city area.

Digital television

The digitalisation of television in Slovakia is only making slight progress. Digitalisation was originally supposed to be fully underway in 2007. There are currently pilot projects in Bratislava and in four further larger towns. Some private TV channels hold licences for analogue TV which are valid until 2019 and therefore are delaying the change to digital TV. In May 2008, all parties concerned agreed upon a plan for the switch to digital TV. However, the only fixed date is for the definitive Europe-wide cessation of analogue broadcasters on 31.12.2012, this being based on international agreements.

News agencies

There are currently two large news agencies in Slovakia: the state-run TASR (www.tasr.sk) and the private SITA (www.sita.sk). In 2008, after years of delays, the government decided to transform the state-financed news agency TASR into a public sector media organisation. This is designed to combat criticism concerning bias towards TASR in the awarding of advantageous state contracts. The private news agency SITA was established in 1997 by Pavol Mudrý. Mudrý had previously worked for APA (the Austria Press Agency) in Vienna. SITA has since established itself as a worthy alternative to the state news agency TASR.

Internet

A large number of Slovakian media, both print media and radio and TV broadcasters, have a comprehensive internet presence. In addition, there are independent news websites. Slovakian versions of leading Czech websites occupy a strong position.

Slovakian internet also profits from the dealings of its Czech neighbours. The takeover of centrum.cz and atlas.cz by the American investment fund Warburg Pincus had a positive effect on the Slovakian versions of both websites.

Slovakian media companies also have online ambitions. Besides websites for their newspapers, radio stations and TV channels, they are also trying their luck with the establishment of separate websites or by becoming involved in such projects. Ringier, for example, after the failure of www.bleskovky.sk, a joint project with www.zoznam.sk, established its own website www.cas.sk, which focuses on populist news coverage.




Individual print media also reveal online ambitions with their own news websites with separate content, for example www.sme.sk belonging to the daily newspaper ‘Sme’.


Slovakia’s media landscape - overview
Slovakia’s media landscape - print media