According to the daily Hospodářské noviny (HN), the newly-appointed director of state-owned Czech Television (ČT), Petr Dvořák, met last week with Petr Kellner, the founder and owner of the PPF group and the richest Czech. According to Dvořák, a former PPF employee, the purpose of the meeting was to discuss what Dvořák’s band will play at PPF’s Christmas party.
According to HN’s information, Dvořák met with Kellner at PPF’s headquarters in Prague 6 last Thursday (Sept. 29). “I had a meeting there with Petr Kellner. We discussed what my music group will play at PPF’s Christmas party,” HN cited Dvořák as saying.
Since Dvořák’s appointment as ČT boss on September 21, there has been speculation about the links between him and the secretive Kellner — who hasn’t been seen in public for many years and who currently ranks 97th on Forbes magazine’s 2011 Rich List — which include rumors that PPF is interested in purchasing plots of land from the state television corporation.
In the 2003, Dvořák was appointed director of the first and most-watched TV channel in the Czech Republic, TV Nova, after PPF had taken control of the company.
Dvořák’s meeting with Kellner so soon after his appointment will do nothing to allay concerns that he may represent the richest Czech’s interests in ČT. If the purpose of the meeting really was to discuss the playlist of Dvořák’s band, for the sake of his reputation he would have done better to wait a month or two. As a PR professional Dvořák should surely know this; perhaps he didn’t expect news of the meeting to reach the public.
