CET 21 was cooperating with Central European Development Corporation (CEDC) effectively owned through another company by Ronald Lauder.
Firstly it was the fact, that the same dispute was submitted to the Czech courts, to the other arbitration in Stockholm/London respectively, and also to ICC as a proceeding between Železný and CME.
"[11] The London panel noted, that collecting damages by the Claimant in either of the processes may reduce the damage claimed in the present proceeding, and it further pointed out, that the Czech Republic refused de facto consolidation of the two proceedings by insisting on different arbitral tribunals in the cases, rather than having the same tribunal decide both, as proposed by Lauder and CME.
The arrangement in 1993 was therefore as follows: CET21 was the licence holder, CEDC provided the majority of capital, and their joint company ČNTS did the actual broadcasting.
The Stockholm award evaluated the 1993 development as follows: "The Media Council violated the (NL-CZ) Treaty when dismantling the legal basis of the foreign investor's investments by forcing the foreign investor’s joint venture company ČNTS to give up substantial accrued legal rights.
The most relevant modification was that the Media Council could no longer include conditions for the broadcasting operator in its decision to grant a license.
The commencement of the administrative proceedings against ČNTS for alleged unauthorized broadcasting constituted the normal exercise of the regulatory duties of the Media Council (and) was not arbitrary.Meanwhile, the Stockholm award states that "the events in 1996 as documented by the exhibits to the parties' submissions are decisive in sustaining the conclusion that the Media Council in 1996 forced ČNTS and CME to agree to undermine the legal protection of CME's investment.
"[29] According to the Stockholm award all this was done in order to "re-establish its control over the broadcasting operations of CET21/ČNTS" which was lost due to the amendment of the Media act, which took away the Council's power to grant license subject to conditions.
[29] The London award on the same issue found that "the main reason for the Media Council to direct CME, CET21 and ČNTS to bring some modifications was the same as the ground for initiating the administrative proceedings (...) i.e. the fear that the unclear legal and factual situation could actually amount to a de facto transfer of the License from CET21 to ČNTS, in violation of Media Law.
"[30] The Stockholm award went as far as stating, that "the Media Council was obliged to defend and secure (1993 ČNTS/CET21/CEDC structure) after having attracted foreign investment on the basis of it.
"[34] The London Tribunal in conclusion held that "none of the actions or inactions of the Media Council caused a direct or indirect damage to Mr. Lauder's investment.
"[35] The Stockholm Tribunal in conclusion held that "The destruction of CME's investment after the termination of the Service Agreement on August 5, 1999 was the consequence of the Media Council's actions and inactions.
He wrote, that "mistakes and errors in the legal conclusions have been caused basically by the fact, that the two arbitrators seem to have firstly agreed upon the final decision as it is expressed in the Award and only thereafter they looked for the arguments to the favour of the Claimant", that "principally the parties to this dispute did never have an equal position" and that he was "excluded from any discussion" as the two other arbitrators alone worked on the award.
Subsequently, the Czech Republic petitioned the Svea Court of Appeal to set aside the decision, mostly using Jaroslav Hándl´s dissenting opinion.
Due to numerous legal disputes between Vladimír Železný, MEF Holding and PPF the ownership structure of CET 21 was unknown.
On 14 May 2003 Vladimír Železný was removed from post of CEO of CET21, on 8 October 2003 PPF bought majority stake in ČNTS from CME for app.
[40] Finally in December 2004 CME announced to acquire majority stake in CET21 from PPF for $642 million and thus to control TV Nova again.