Mreža

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mreža was the first Croatian private television network.

Its name means "net" in Croatian. It was founded in 1997. From its Zagreb studios it produced original programme that was later aired through various local and regional stations.

The arrival of Mreža was quite an event in Croatian media history, because it was the first time media monopoly of state-owned Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) was challenged in such spectacular way. Mreža produced original program in form of its own news, but the best remembered are lavishly produced shows. Mreža even managed to poach some important talent from HRT, including Denis Latin and his popular Latinica talk show.

However, one of the owners of Mreža was the controversial tycoon Miroslav Kutle, and his presence doomed the network. Burdened with debts and poor financial management, Mreža disappeared from Croatian airwaves in 1998, taking few of their local affiliaties, including TV Marjan from Split, with it.