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Weekly Lists
October 12, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 27
bne:TMT Poroshenko,
Medvedchuk battle for control of two TV stations in prelude to presidential elections
Russia's Sberbank, Rambler to invest in online platform for restaurants
A tussle for control over two TV stations has reportedly broken out in Ukraine in the run up to crucial presidential elections next year.
President Petro Poroshenko has been accused of using the state resources to bully two TV stations so as to influence their editorial ahead of the elections. The stations have been taken over by the Russia-linked opposition leader Viktor Medvedchuk using proxies to hide his involvement, the Kyiv Post reports, citing local media.
Poroshenko has now been accused of bullying the NewsOne op- position television channel and 112 Ukraine channel, though the presidential administration has denied the accusation. Both chan- nels appear to have been taken over by Medvedchuk, who is an éminence grise in Ukraine from the Kuchma era.
Russia's largest bank Sberbank and one of country's biggest web portals Rambler announced the creation of the Foodplex online platform for the catering market.
Sberbank is at the forefront of digital economy development in Rus- sia, keeping a stable rollout of innovations under its digitally driven strategy. Another notable player in the online food delivery market is internet major Mail.ru.
Apart from food delivery, Sbebrank's Foodplex promises to enable table bookings, placing orders remotely, paying the bills and tip- ping without waters' assistance. It unites the digital marketing and payment system Piazius, booking service Afisha Restorani, and the catering automation system UCS.
“We are sure that Foodplex will radically change the restaurant market and in the long term, up to 70% of restaurants will use it," said Rafael Abramyan of Rambler.
Czech consumers’ spending in online stores was up by a third y/y in the first nine months of this year to a total of CZK19.5bn (€753mn), the Czech Bank Card Association reported on October 10.
The average value of the goods purchased fell to CZK786 (€30.37), and consumers are using sites to shop in foreign e-shops as well as booking of accommodation and air-tickets online. According to Marcin Glogowski, PayPal CEO for Central and Eastern Europe, Czech businesses are losing the customers who are increasingly spending abroad.
Czechs’ spending in foreign e-shops up by a third in 9M18