Poland's largest private television networks, TVN and Polsat, will be added to the list of strategic companies protected from hostile takeovers by foreign-linked entities, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on December 11.

The announcement comes in the wake of recent media speculation about a potential acquisition of TVN – currently owned by the US media conglomerate Warner Bros. Discovery – by a Hungarian-Czech consortium linked to figures close to radical rightwing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Poland fell out with Orban over the latter’s pro-Russian stance, which has hindered the EU taking a unified response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Poland has also watched closely the Romanian presidential election, recently cancelled by the Supreme Court, over the way a huge social media campaign by Russia elevated a Moscow-friendly candidate to win the first round of the vote.

TVN is sympathetic to the Tusk government and was one of the strongest media opposing the previous government of the radical right Law and Justice (PiS) party between 2015 and 2023.

“There are rumours of interest from the East in acquiring or influencing Polish media. This is a very serious matter. We will not stand by and allow hostile states to brazenly interfere in our daily lives, economy, or electoral processes," Tusk told a press conference.

"I have decided to expand the regulation on protected entities to include TVN and Polsat. They will be listed as strategic companies safeguarded against aggressive or potentially harmful takeovers from the perspective of Poland’s national interest," Tusk said.

The list of strategic companies covers important state-controlled entities from sectors like energy, defence or transport. There also are two privately-owned companies on the list, fuels company Unimot and Orange, a telecom.

Earlier this year, a report that TVN might be up for sale appeared in the Financial Times. More recently, an October article in the Polish news website Onet named Jozsef Vida, a Hungarian millionaire with ties to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, as interested in buying the broadcaster.

The report by Onet also said Renata Kellnerova,  the wealthiest woman in Eastern Europe, with an estimated fortune of $11.8bn, was also eyeing purchasing TVN. Kellnerova's PPF financial group, which has extensive TV interests, has denied that it is interested in TVN.

PiS reacted with fury to Tusk’s announcement, lambasting the PM for protecting a media company that has long supported him, yet one in which the government does not have a stake.

“It’s real panic out there. They know they’re nothing without TVN’s manipulations,”  PiS MEP Waldemar Buda said on X.