Mreža ("net" in Croatian) was the first private

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

television network A television broadcaster or television network is a telecommunications network for the distribution of television show, television content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations, pay television providers or ...

. It was founded in 1997. From its

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

studios, it produced original programs that were later aired on various local and regional stations. The arrival of Mreža was quite a notable event in Croatian media history, because it was the first time the media monopoly of state-owned

Croatian Radiotelevision ''Hrvatska radiotelevizija'' ( HRT), or Croatian Radiotelevision, is a Croatian public broadcasting company. It operates several radio and television channels, over a domestic transmitter network as well as satellite. HRT is divided into three ...

(HRT) was significantly challenged. Mreža produced original programs in the form of its own news, as well as lavishly produced shows. Mreža also poached some important talent from HRT, including

Denis Latin Denis Latin (born 14 February 1966 in Šibenik) is a Croatian television host. He began to work on HRT in 1987 and two years later, in 1989, he graduated from Faculty of Political Science in Zagreb. In 1990 he became the announcer of ''Dnevnik'', ...

and his popular '' Latinica'' talk show. One of the owners of Mreža was the controversial tycoon

Miroslav Kutle Miroslav Kutle (born October 6, 1957) is a Bosnian Croat entrepreneur. He became notorious for his involvement in the Croatian privatization controversy and has since been sentenced to jail time for embezzlement on two occasions. Education Kutle ...

, and his activities caused the network to fail. Burdened with debts and financial mismanagement, Mreža disappeared from the Croatian airwaves in 1998, taking a few of the local affiliates with it, including

TV Marjan TV Marjan is now defunct Croatian commercial TV station from Split, which had the distinction of being the first private television station in former Yugoslavia. The station, named after Marjan hill overlooking city of Split, began its existence ...

from

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enter ...

References

External links

Defunct television channels in Croatia Mass media in Zagreb {{Croatia-tv-stub