Happy TV
Happy TV was established in 2010 through the merger of Happy TV and Košava in 2010. Radio Košava was founded in 1994 and was owned by Marija Milošević, the daughter of former Serbian president Slobodan Milošević. Four years later, Košava also received a television frequency. After Milošević's fall from power in 2000, Marija sold the ownership of TV Košava to lawyer Borivoje Pajović, who at the time was the chairman of Blic.
After several changes of ownership, in 2006 the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (formerly RRA, now REM) granted TV Košava a national frequency, which it shared with the children's channel Happy TV. This channel broadcast only children's programmes in the mornings, while Košava broadcast news and other programmes in the evenings. At the time, REM's decision sparked a number of rumours, as neither station had the capacity to broadcast nationally, unlike RTL, for example, which applied for a frequency but was not granted one. For example, Košava was linked to Željko Mitrović and his TV Pink, who lent Košava money as a deposit in the competition for the frequencies. BK TV, whose editor-in-chief Milomir Marić made a number of allegations about the procedure of the tender, also failed to win a frequency in the tender. In 2007, Predrag Ranković Peconi acquired a stake in Košava through a recapitalisation, although his name was never mentioned in the official ownership documents. Since the merger of Košava and Happy in 2010, the latter has broadcast a programme now known for its tabloid style of reporting and attacks on critics of Aleksandar Vučić's regime. Members of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party and people close to the party are frequent guests on television, and news programmes are mostly nationalist and pro-government. Pecconi's name does not appear in any official documents regarding the Happy TV ownership. However, his ownership of the TV station is public knowledge. So, comparing private investments in sports and television management, during an interview on the Ćirilica show on Happy television in February 2024, the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, asked the editor-in-chief of this television, Milomir Marić, "whether Pecconi would allow anyone else's interference on his television.", thus insinuating that Peconi owns the TV station. For years, television broadcast the reality show Couples, which is known for violating ethical and professional standards, with fights, sexual assaults and harassment broadcast live.
In January 2017, Srđan Milovanović's Kopernikus, the current owner of Prva and O2, granted a loan of 4.8 million EUR to Happy TV. The shares in Happy TV were pledged as security for this loan.
Happy TV doo has a 5.52% stake in AD Pekarska industrija Pančevo. The majority owner of this company is Rubin AD Kruševac with 90.04% of the shares. Happy TV doo holds 1.38% of the shares in AD Trivit mlin MI Vrbas. The majority owner of this company with a 72.76% share is Intersig, a company owned by Bojan Roglić.
In 2020, the company Ideogram, the owner of Happy TV doo, annexed the company Kanal 1. In 2019, the television company bought the company in debt - Audiovisual attractions d.o.o.
Television Happy received 787,000 dinars (approximately 7,000 USD) in the competition of the City of Zaječar in 2020, and 2.5 million dinars (approximately 23,000 USD) from the City of Belgrade in 2021, according to BIRN's database of public calls.
Audience Share
7.94%
Ownership Type
Private
Geographic Coverage
National
Content Type
Free Content
Media Companies / Groups
Happy TV
Ownership Structure
Happy TV doo has been 100% owned by Ideogram from Belgrade since February 2021. The sole owner of Ideogram is Vladana Ćirović. Ćirović is the director of Happy Radio and a member of the board of the Invej Humanitarian Foundation. In addition to Happy TV doo, Ideogram owns Radio Happy as of May 2022 and MM Jovanović doo, which is in liquidation.
Pecconi's name does not appear in any official documents regarding the Happy TV ownership. However, his ownership of the TV station is public knowledge. So, comparing private investments in sports and television management, during an interview on the Ćirilica show on Happy television in February 2024, the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, asked the editor-in-chief of this television, Milomir Marić, "whether Pecconi would allow anyone else's interference on his television.", thus insinuating that Peconi owns the TV station.
Voting Rights
Missing Data
Individual Owner
General Information
Founding Year
2010
Affiliated Interests Founder
Known to the public as Peconi. According to the 2001 White Book of the Serbian Ministry of the Interior, Peconi was close to the Surčin clan criminal group. He was arrested in 2003 during the Sable police operation carried out after the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić. In the Serbian police leaflet entitled "Criminal Groups and Individuals Involved in Organised Crime on the Territory of Serbia", known to the public as the White Book of Crime, Ranković is mentioned as part of the Surčin clan. He was also indicted on suspicion of tax evasion, but the case was dropped. In 2010, Peconi's bodyguards clashed with those of Ljubiša Buha Čume, the former leader of the Surčin clan. As the media reported in 2008 and 2012, Peconi financially supported Tomislav Nikolić and his SRS party in the 2008 parliamentary elections, and in a 2012 WikiLeaks report, American Ambassador Michael Polt talks about the links between Ivica Dačić and Peconi, who financed him in the internal party elections for the party leadership in 2006.
Peconi was wounded in a Belgrade hotel in 2017, but survived. He owns the Fantasy sweets company and is linked to the Invej company, which was founded by his brother-in-law Srđan Sredojević and is now owned by Slađana Sredojević. The Invej Group consists of many privatised companies. At the same time, most of the companies related to Invej are registered at the same address, Aleksandra Dubčeka 14, as is Happy Television.
Peconi entered the media business in 2006, as the media associations wrote at the time, when he bought a stake in BK TV, whose editor-in-chief was Milomir Marić, who is now the editor-in-chief of Happy TV. A year later, through a recapitalisation, Peconi became the owner of Košava, although his name does not appear in the company register. The merger of Košava and Television Happy took place in 2010 with the creation of a unique programme and channel called National Television Happy, and the old Happy became Happy K. The management moved the children's programme to a separate channel and filled the existing one with programmes of different content, including reality couples (Parovi).
Pecconi's name does not appear in any official documents regarding the Happy TV ownership. However, his ownership of the TV station is public knowledge. So, comparing private investments in sports and television management, during an interview on the Ćirilica show on Happy television in February 2024, the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, asked the editor-in-chief of this television, Milomir Marić, "whether Pecconi would allow anyone else's interference on his television.", thus insinuating that Peconi owns the TV station.
In 2018, TV Happy submitted a request to the company Google to remove certain news items mentioning Predrag Ranković Peconi from the search.
Affiliated Interests Ceo
Ćirović is the director of Radio Happy and member of the managing board of Humanitarian Foundation Invej. She became the CEO of Happy TV in February 2024
Affiliated Interests Editor-In-Chief
Former editor of the newspapers Duga, Intervju, Profil and Dama, and since October 2001 he has been an editor at BK Television, which was founded by the Karić brothers. He joined TV Košava/Happy in 2008. He is the author of the programme Goli život and Ćirilica. Former host of the reality show Parovi, and currently host of Dobro jutro Srbijo.
Affiliated Interests other important people
A spokesperson for Happy Television and a board member of the Invej humanitarian foundation.
Contact
Financial Information
Revenue (in Mill. $)
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Operating Profit (in Mill. $)
Missing Data
Advertising (in % of total funding)
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Market Share
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Further Information
Meta Data
Missing data on market share and advertising revenue. Financial data is available only for the company that publishes the media, but not for the media itself. In the official registers, Predrag Ranković is not connected with the company that owns the television.
