History - highlights

The ITI Group was established in 1984 by Jan Wejchert and Mariusz Walter. Bruno Valsangiacomo joined the company in 1991.They are the ITI Group's creators and founding shareholders.

Jan Wejchert (05.01.1950 - 31.10.2009) was one of Poland's first private entrepreneurs. Together with his business partners and close friends, Mariusz Walter and Bruno Valsangiacomo, Jan Wejchert created, led and developed the ITI Group into Poland's and Central and Eastern Europe's premier media group. Jan Wejchert's vision and belief that each of the ITI Group's business activities should be a market leader and best in class operation has come to life and through TVN, Onet, 'n' Multikino and Legia are known to every Pole. Jan Wejchert pioneered Polish private entrepreneurship by having founded the Polish Business Roundtable in 1992 one of the most important organizations of private enterprises in Poland. He was awarded by the Polish President the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta for his outstanding achievement for the development of the Polish economy. Through ITI Group Jan Wejchert has been a driving force for the establishment of independent news and information in the young Polish democracy. The ITI Group lost a wonderful friend and a great personality.

Jan Wejchert was succeeded by his son Lukasz Wejchert, who has become a member of the ITI Group Executive Committee, joining Mariusz Walter acting as Executive Chairman, Bruno Valsangiacomo, Deputy Executive Chairman, and Wojciech Kostrzewa, who joined the ITI Group in 2005 as the fourth shareholder and CEO of the ITI Group.

When the ITI Group's operations began in 1984, it became one of Poland's first privately-owned companies. At the start, the businesses consisted of an import and trading operation for consumer electronics goods (Hitachi), an advertising agency, and a theatrical and home video distribution operation.

In 1985, the ITI Group diversified into the food sector, primarily in snack foods, and marketed its products under the brand name "Lilly Chips". In 1991, this business was integrated into a joint venture with Intersnack Knabber-Gebaeck GmbH & Co. KG (IKG), a leading German snack food producer (Chio Chips).

In 1992, following the introduction of significantly higher import duties, the consumer electronics distribution business was discontinued. Between 1995 and 2002, the ITI Group focused strategically on its media and entertainment activities. In 1997 ITI Group launched its flag-ship, the free-to-air television channel TVN. In 1999, the ITI Group sold its interest in the McCann Erickson advertising agency to Interpublic Group.

At the end of 2000, the ITI Group sold its interests in the food sector in order to focus entirely on its media and entertainment business. Since then, the ITI Group has developed a strong position in three main segments of the Polish multi-media market - television broadcasting and production, entertainment and new media. The historical developments in these segments are highlighted below.

Television broadcasting and production

The ITI Group has been involved in television advertising production since the early days of its history. ITI Film Studio, which has been active in the production of television commercials since 1985, has set its focus on the production of feature films.

Endemol-Neovision, another production company formed in 1997 as a joint venture between the ITI Group and one of the leading international entertainment content producers - Endemol Entertainment International B.V., has developed, produced and distributed such successful television formats as Big Brother, and Who wants to be a Millionaire. The ITI Group withdrew from the investment in December 2004.

ITI Group's dynamic development in television broadcasting began with the launch of TVN in 1997, which has become the leading commercial free-to-air television channel and one of the most prominent TV brands in Poland. Since then, ITI Group has launched several successful television channels.

In 2001, the ITI Group launched TVN 24, Poland's first thematic channel exclusively devoted to both national and international news, and current affairs of interest to Polish viewers..

In 2002, ITI Group purchased RTL7 from CLT-UFA and TVN re-launched it as a second free-to-air television channel - TVN Siedem, which is aimed at targeting audiences complementary to those of TVN, the ITI Group's main channel.

TVN Meteo launched in May 2003 is Poland's first weather channel, and TVN Turbo launched in December 2003 is the first Polish television channel dedicated entirely to motoring.

In April 2004 ITI Group launched ITVN, the Polish language entertainment channel dedicated to Poles living abroad.

ITVN has been followed by TVN Style, a female oriented channel featuring fashion, lifestyle, health and beauty and cooking related programs, which went on air in August 2004.

In October 2006, ITI Group launched two pioneering education channels: TVN Lingua, a thematic channel dedicated to viewers who want to learn a foreign language and TVN Med, an educational channel dedicated to medical doctors.

In November, 2006, a documentary channel Discovery Historia, a joint venture between TVN Group and Discovery Networks, went on air. The contribution by two strong brands with an innovative approach to history bring the highest level of history related programs to Polish audiences.

In September 2007, the range of ITI Group channels was extended by the business channel, TVN CNBC Biznes developed in cooperation with CNBC. The programs are the result of a daily editorial and technological cooperation between CNBC and TVN CNBC Biznes in Poland.

Digital Platform

ITI Group's strong position on the Polish market, its experience and successful launch of several thematic channels as well as the growing market share inspired ITI Group to engage in a new project to revolutionize the Polish media market. In October 2006, ITI Group launched "n" - a new generation television, the most advanced digital platform offering broadcast in HD standard, PRV and VoD features as well as some premiering on Polish television market channels.

New Media

The ITI Group identified significant growth potential in the Polish internet market and the need to deliver quality content to users. Between 2000 and 2001, the Group launched Tenbit.pl an internet-based interactive entertainment website and in 2001 acquired a controlling interest in Onet.pl.

Onet.pl is a pioneer of the Polish internet and the leading Polish internet portal. It is also one of the largest European portals as measured by page-views. Onet.pl enjoys a leadership position both in internet services and content. Several of Onet.pl’s content sites, such as news, life-style, sport, business and entertainment, are the No. 1 destination of Polish internet users . Onet.pl’s  success is based not only on financial performance but also on its business development strategy to constantly create innovative products and services which are very often ultimate novelty on the Polish market. Some of the most successful Onet’s products include:

TVN24.pl is Poland’s first news vortal featuring extensive video content being a new kind of communication platform for the Polish audiences. In cooperation with TVN24, the vortal provides current news, up-to-date information and analysis some of which is exclusively available only on TVN24.pl. Additionally, the content is facilitated by interactive features enabling Internet users to post comments or participate in discussions which further enhance the value of TVN24.pl.

ZUMI.pl is Poland's first internet address location service. ZUMI.pl is an online map solution displaying business locations, private addresses or any point of interest in Poland. The service provides route planning to fixed or user defined addresses by simply entering post code, street or place name. The powerful performance is based on its database including 1,000,000 current business addresses, near 1,300 city and town maps, detailed road maps and high quality satellite images. In addition, ZUMI.pl provides an easy and effective promotional tool for small and middle size businesses by enabling them to incorporate logos, images, multimedia presentations or price lists.

Onet.tv is a multimedia platform featuring a library of more than 9,000 video clips, over 100 TV programs and seven thematic channels: News, Sports, Music, Film, Travel Lifestyle and Education. Among the content providers are Associated Press, United Pictures, Hollywood Reporter, TVN24, TVN Lingua, n-Sport, TMT, Bullseye TV etc. The platform’s entire content is available “on demand” and it allows for creating customized schedules as well as playlists.

Entertainment

In the entertainment sector, ITI Cinema has been engaged since 1985 in the distribution of theatrical films, the marketing and distribution of videocassettes and later DVDs under the brand name of ITI Home Video for the Polish wholesale and retail markets. ITI Cinema also co-produces feature films and is engaged in the distribution of theatrical films to cinemas across Poland.

In 1998, the first multiplex cinema under the brand name of Multikino was opened in Poznan as the result of a joint venture with United Cinemas International (UCI). Today, Multikino successfully operates fourteen multi-screen cinemas across Poland and is fully owned by the ITI Group. In February 2008 the ITI Group acquired the operations of Silver Screen expanding the number of cinemas to 19.

In April 2004, ITI Group acquired a 80% interest in Legia Warszawa, Poland's leading football club. Legia, formed in 1916, is the all time top of the league team having won the Polish championship 8 times and the Polish cup 12 times among other trophies.

In April 2007, ITI Group acquired 49% of shares of the publisher of Tygodnik Powszechny, the Catholic socio-cultural weekly magazine, which has gained a great respect and popularity among Poles in 60 years of its existence.

Pascal which, which the ITI Group acquired as part of Onet.pl, was launched in 1991, has become a leading travel book publisher in Poland. In addition to publishing its own titles, it also has the exclusive Polish rights to titles by such publishers as Lonely Planet, The Rough Guides, MGV and Gallimard.