The decision to limit gambling advertising in the media “directly affects the procedure that is currently underway for the sale of the shares of “Bi you are a partner“ in “United Group”. This is the group that in Bulgaria owns “Vivacom” and Nova TV", Yasen Guev, PR expert and business consultant, told "Free Europe". In his words “the effect of the reduction in advertising revenue is a drop in the price of Nova TV“.
Guev said that “regarding bTV, the blow is much more serious, because, if we look at the financial results, the bTV group is two times smaller in terms of revenue than that of Nova TV, and in profits the difference is four times“.
According to Guev, “Nova TV did a much better job of developing the market, considering the online resources they developed. While bTV also tried to do something, but the volume is less. They survived this transformation, and their overall management is extremely strange”.
Guev said that both companies are starting a process of evaluating budget cuts. “New TV has enough resources and it is just a profit cut, but they will get through it. bTV not that they can't cope, although the blow is big, but the long-term question is what happens next year”, Guev said.
According to him, the fair approach would be for the changes to the Gambling Act to come into force from next year, to give time.
Gambling advertising in the media is an issue that has been debated for years. In 2020, MPs also pledged to limit it, but that didn't happen.
At the beginning of April, the parliament rejected a bill of the "Revival" party, which also provided for the restriction of advertising of gambling games in the media. “The political sign of who makes the decisions and who holds the power is important. And it shows that the decision is made by GERB and DPS, i.e. these are the parties with whom a dialogue should be held in the future, because things depend on them”, said Yasen Guev.
In his words, political influence does not go through ownership, but through influence through certain people and influence in relation to the revenue part of televisions.
„What is happening in Nova TV is not related to the way it covers political processes at the moment, but is related to who the politicians will talk to in the future. Because they see that there is a process of change of ownership”, Guev said.
According to him, “if you want something in Nova TV now, you have to get to Dragan Sholak. In six months at the most, when there should be a change of ownership, who will you talk to if Dragan Sholak leaves”. Sholak is a Serbian businessman, creator and shareholder in the “United Group”.