UPC Polska has acquired Azart-Sat, a telecommunications operator operating in the Lower Silesian and Opole Voivodeships and providing internet, telephone and television services.
It is not known whether the cheapest subscription, previously costing PLN 5, will remain available or be replaced by one almost six times more expensive, costing PLN 29. It is also not known which channels will remain in the offer and which will appear in place of those removed. There is also no information about internet access. The cheapest package at Azart-Sat cost PLN 39; at the new company, it is PLN 10 more expensive. UPC provided only very general information about the cable TV acquisition and did not answer our question about what the change of ownership would mean for subscribers.
An important clarification is needed here. Two companies operating in Bolesławiec have “Azart-Sat” in their names. The first is the cable television company “Azart-Sat”, acquired by UPC. “Azart-Sat” was founded by Leszek Burchardt from Jelenia Góra. After his death, the cable television company was owned by AZ1, whose shareholders, apart from his widow Krystyna, were his two daughters: Alicja and Paulina. According to data from November 2014, the company’s capital amounted to more than PLN 29 million. This is the company that UPC bought.
The second company operating in Bolesławiec is Telewizja Lokalna “Azart-Sat” Sp. z o.o., which employs, among others, Wioletta Juchaniuk, Jan Samerdak and Bogdan Mazurkiewicz. This television station produces a local program that can be watched on the cable network. The local television station had two owners: the Burchardt family and the Municipality of Bolesławiec. Now, following the sale of the cable television company, the Burchardts’ shares have been bought by the television station’s employees. The municipality remains, as before, a minority co-owner.
Below is a statement from the TL “Azart-Sat” website dated 19 December:
These are the biggest changes in Telewizja Lokalna “Azart-Sat” Sp. z o.o. since it was established in 1998. There have been changes in ownership. The Municipality holds 40% of the shares, and this has not changed. The company’s employees have acquired the remaining 60%. Paulina Burchardt and Grzegorz Kubów resigned from the company’s supervisory board. Its chairperson, Mariusz Herba, remains on the board. The two vacant seats were filled by Dorota Wilas and Jan Samerdak. Alicja Burchardt-Kubów also resigned as president of the company’s management board. The supervisory board appointed Bogdan Mazurkiewicz to this position.