Media scandal escalates in Romania: GM of Antena TV Group taken into custody over alleged blackmail case

The general manager of media company Antena TV Group, George Sorin Alexandrescu, who was recently accused of blackmail by anti-corruption prosecutors, was taken into custody on Thursday evening (May 30) for 24 hours, after hearings at the National Anti-Corruption Directorate DNA. The blackmail accusations came as Alexandrescu allegedly forced the administrator of a company to sign a contract under pre-established conditions, threatening to reveal some compromising information about the administrator if he did not sign. The administrator turned informant and involved the DNA. According to Antena 3, which is part of the Antena TV media group, the accusations against Alexandrescu are based on a complaint made by RCS-RDS, which runs competitor news TV station Digi TV. The two media companies, Antena TV group and RCS & RDS had together bought the rights to broadcast football games from the Romanian Professional Football League, but later on disagreements appeared between the two companies on splitting the broadcasting of the games. According to pundits, this is at the core of the dispute, which may have involved the anti-corruption case as well. RCS & RDS, which is mainly a cable provider, but with activities on the media segment as well, canceled in 2012 broadcasting the TV stations Antena 1, Antena 3 and Euforia TV from its satellite platform Digi, saying Antena TV Group did not want to pay EUR 7 million to have the three channels broadcasted. The president of Romanian Professional Football League Dumitru Dragomir was also heard by anti-corruption prosecutors on Thursday, May 30, but he did not say why he had been brought in for. Earlier in the day, information surfaced of a contract between Dragomir and RCS & RDS, worth some EUR 1.7 million, about the same time as RCS & RDS won the rights to broadcast the football games. The contract between the president and RCS & RDS consists in a joint venture between Dragomir's Crystal Palace Ballrooms and the media company, based on which he received EUR 1.7 million to advertise the media company at the events taking place in the Ballrooms. When the contract was signed, the events area was not furbished, so RCS & RDS spent the EUR 1.7 million to furbish it. editor@romania-insider.com