Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. (CME) has completedits acquisition of TV Nova, the leading broadcaster in Central and EasternEurope.

CME is a major film buyer in the region, acquiring broadcastrights to international films for its stations in Croatia, the Czech Republic,Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.

The purchase of Nova, with 10 million viewers in the CzechRepublic alone, increases CME's footprint to approximately 90 millionpeople.

CME acquired 85% of the interest in the TV Nova groupformerly held by strategic investor PPF. The purchase price, in cash and CMEstock, was approximately $630m. CME intends to acquire the remaining 15% fromPPF, bringing the total investment to $930m.

"With this transaction and our buying out the minorityinterests in TV Nova, we have achieved one of the key goals of our growthstrategy," CME CEO Michael Garin said in a press release. "We havemoved from being a leading broadcaster in Central and Eastern Europe to beingthe dominant one."

In the Czech Republic, TV Nova has recently produced itsfirst feature film, the romantic comedy Roman Pro Zeny. Nova director general Petr Dvorak said in astatement the effort was the beginning of a new strategy which Nova hopes willhelp cooperation in the audiovisual sector in the Czech Republic. Local filmsare among the most-watched programmes on Czech television.