Telewizja Bolesławiec has changed owners

Telewizja Bolesławiec has a new owner. The shares in the company operating the local station were bought by Medask sp. z o.o.. As a result, the company became the television station’s sole owner.

As Bogdan Mazurkiewicz of Telewizja Bolesławiec explains, this is another change of ownership in the station’s long history of transformations.

– In its initial form, our television station (as a local-government institution – ed.) operated until 1998. A commercial-law company was then established, in which the shares were held by Telewizja Kablowa and Gmina Bolesławiec. After Telewizja Kablowa sold its network to UPC (now Play – ed.) in 2014, the cable company’s shares were taken over by Telewizja Bolesławiec employees. This year, however, the employees’ and municipality’s shares were bought by Medask, which is now its sole owner – says Bogdan Mazurkiewicz in the television report.

This means that the station, which for years was co-created by the local government and the local community, and later by its employees, has passed entirely into private hands.

A company of doctors and hospital employees

The company Medask sp. z o.o. was registered in the National Court Register on 7 December 2022. Its registered office is located in Bolesławiec at 9C Kresów II RP Street, and its share capital amounted to PLN 124,000.

REGON register data show that the company’s primary activity is software-related activity, although its registered activities also include, among others, business consultancy, financial activity and healthcare-related services.

Shareholders connected with St. Luke’s Hospital

The company’s list of shareholders is the most surprising aspect. They include primarily people professionally connected with St. Luke’s Hospital in Bolesławiec.

The shareholders include:

  • Jolanta Sawczak – a hospital employee and president of the Wspierajmy Zdrowie Foundation,
  • Kamila Skiba – the hospital’s chief accountant,
  • Marcin Kuliś – the hospital’s legal counsel,
  • Jarosław Luboński – head of anesthesiology and intensive care,
  • Justyna Straszak – a doctor,
  • Aleksandra Kopczyńska – a doctor,
  • Marek Stefanik – head of the hospital outpatient clinics,
  • Alicja Tuduj – responsible for recruiting doctors,
  • and previously also Artur Nahorecki (a hospital doctor) and Karolina Barczyk (the hospital director’s wife).

The company’s current management board consists of Jolanta Sawczak, Jarosław Luboński and Aleksandra Kopczyńska.

It used to be a local-government television station

Telewizja Bolesławiec was established in March 1991. It operated under the name Samorządowa Telewizja Lokalna Bolesławiec. For many years, it functioned as a local medium closely associated with the local government. For many residents, it was a station created and indirectly financed by the local community. It may now come as a surprise that this medium has ended up in the hands of a private company formed by people working at St. Luke’s Hospital.

The change of ownership certainly marks the symbolic end of the stage during which the television station was connected with the local government. It is now wholly owned by a private company.

Earlier controversies in the background

One of Medask’s shareholders is Jolanta Sawczak, who heads the Wspierajmy Zdrowie Foundation.

In the past, the foundation organized a gala for the hospital at one of Bolesławiec’s schools. Alcohol was served during the event, which – according to findings by the istotne.pl portal – was contrary to regulations governing the organization of events at educational institutions.

The matter was widely discussed in the local public debate.

Was the television station bought to boost the director’s political career?

It is quite possible that the television station was bought to boost the political career of director Kamil Barczyk. Barczyk is currently a councillor of the Lower Silesian Regional Assembly; he ran from the lists of Trzecia Droga (Polska 2050 and PSL). He also ran for the Senate from the list of Bezpartyjni Samorządowcy.

In the upcoming elections, PSL wants to create a joint list together with Bezpartyjni Samorządowcy. Will the Bolesławiec television station help with promotion? We will see. The fact is that people are increasingly using the internet and obtaining information from this medium.