22-03-2023

Adrian Sârbu’s Aleph Media Goes Into Insolvency

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    BUCHAREST: Aleph Media, the company owned by Adrian Sârbu, which operates the TV channels Aleph News and Aleph Business in Romania, has gone into insolvency. The decision was made by the Bucharest Court at the request of Aleph Media itself on 16 March 2023.

    Adrian Sârbu fought against the biggest cable operator in Romania, RCS&RDS, for positioning Aleph at the bottom of the TV grid among other small TV channels, leading to low ratings, according to Pagina de Media. The National Audiovisual Council of Romania (CAN) had more than once sanctioned RCS&RDS for not gathering all the news TV channels in the same package. CAN eventually changed the Audiovisual Law.

    Adrian Sârbu, former CEO of Central European Media Enterprises (CME) and the helmer of Pro TV, launched Aleph News on 31 August 2020. Aleph News was thought to be the first chapter of a bigger project that he called “social television”, “a project for the 21st century, which will create its own market”, as Sârbu said in a statement.

    Aleph News was supposed to be followed by Aleph Business and Aleph Comedy, which received a license together with Aleph News in June 2020, but Aleph Comedy was eventually cancelled.