Czech MPs kill plan to reshuffle TV advertising

...private channels operated by CME and Sweden's MTG .

Current law is phasing out advertising on the public Ceska Televize, setting a reduction of ad time to 0.5 percent of air time this year and zero as of 2008, except for live coverage of large sporting events.

The measure, rejected in a vote on Thursday, would have given public channels back the original 1 percent of advertising time they held before the current law was adopted a year ago.

Analysts said that returning ad time to the public channels would hit profits at the leading private channel, TV Nova, owned by Central European Media Enterprises (CME), as well as at Prima, co-owned by MTG.

Brokerage Wood and Company said the change could have cut core profit by up to 10 percent at CME in 2008. TV Nova is the largest revenue earner among the group of central European television stations run by CME.

[PRAGUE/Reuters/Finance.cz]