TV2 Group has found a replacement for recently departed Dirk Gerkens. The Hungarian commercial broadcaster announced this afternoon that Pavel Stanchev has been appointed CEO of TV2 Group. With nearly three decades of experience in television and media, the new top manager comes from the largest French TV company, TF1 Group, where he has held various managerial and advisory duties in recent years. He will take over the operational management of the channel from May 15, as confirmed by Miklós Vaszily, Chairman of TV2 Media Group Zrt.

Stanchev was presented to TV2’s staff at a special meeting today. Commenting on the appointment, Vaszily emphasized that he had an explicit goal of finding a new leader for TV2 with an outstanding experience in the CEE region, and whose expertise could be the driving force behind TV2's domestic and regional growth plans.

In his inaugural speech, Pavel Stanchev said it was a major recognition that he would be able to run the largest television company in Hungary. The exec emphasized that, together with TV2's management, he considers the development of the digital and international areas of the media group to be a priority and will aim at giving viewers the best entertainment and news programs on TV2.

Pavel Stanchev has 28 years of experience in the field of international television and media, and his work has affected the Hungarian media market on many occasions. Prior to the TF1 Group, he was CEO of bTV Media Group in Bulgaria, and also headed the Antenna Group South-East Europe (Ljubljana, Belgrade, Athens) as CEO, and formerly Antenna's Sofia-based Nova TV. He was CEO of Planet TV in Slovenia and PRVA in Serbia, as well as Kanal D Romania. As the first CEO of RTL Croatia, he also took part in development of RTL’s operations in the region, including Hungary. He started his career at the Ringier Media Group in the 1990s, and as a business development manager he contributed to the launch of press outlets in Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania.