Media conglomerates RCS&RDS, Intact Media Group threaten to sue each other

While cable company RCS&RDS claims that Intact Media Group has started a smear campaign against some of its shareholders and managers, the trust controlled by the Voiculescu family accuses RCS&RDS of broadcasting speculations.

In short, the two groups say they plan to sue each other. RCS&RDS and Intact Media Group are already battling in court, with the former CEO of Antena Group, Sorin Alexandrescu, being handed down a jail sentence of 3 years and six months in jail in a case regarding the alleged blackmail of Ioan Bendei, the former administrator of RCS&RDS. The initial ruling of the judges has been challenged.

Meanwhile, Bendei is accused in a separate corruption file regarding broadcasting rights for the Romanian Football League 1, in the 2008-2011 seasons. RCS&RDS is prosecuted in this case, alongside several current and former executives of the company, including Serghei Bulgac, the CEO of Digi Communications, the listed parent of RCS&RDS.

Zoltan Teszari, the founder of RCS&RDS, has accused Antena 3 TV station, part of Intact Media Group, of broadcasting a processed phone conversation that he had with Bendei. Teszari claimed that he never spoke with Traian Basescu after Antena 3 suggested that he might have met with the former president.

“The channels of Intact Trust continue to manipulate the public opinion by breaching the law in order to harm our image, by presenting to the public tendentiously, in bad faith fake news and information,” said RCS&RDS in a statement.