Telekom Serbia says United Group never wanted deal for N1

N1

Telekom Serbia on Friday accussed the owners of N1 TV of never wanting to reach an agreement to distribute the cable news channel.

The state-owned telecommunications company, which owns a number of cable operators across the country, issued its latest statement in response to the United Group decision to end negotiations with the Telekom after it offered to distribute N1 for free. Telekom added that it would not agree to be blackmailed.  

“The reply from the owners of N1 TV to the Telekom Serbia offer to broadcast the N1 channel for free for the duration of the negotiations to reach a final agreement shows that the owners of N1 TV were never actually prepared to reach an agreement with Telekom Serbia,” the state telecommunications company said.  

The company added that the United Group responded by ending negotiations to what it said is a “logical business proposal” to allow free of charge broadcasting of N1 until a final agreement is reached.  

“We recall that we proposed that we would broadcast N1 to four times more households than was the case up to January 17 even though the same owner shut off all channels, including N1 and Sport Klub. We will not agree to blackmail,” Telekom said.