Sigma raises stakes by poaching Antenna stars

By Charlie Charalambous

IN THE wake of unprecedented local big money football transfers, Sigma has now turned the TV world upside down by pulling out its chequebook to lure Antenna’s rising stars.

Local TV networks are not renowned for their adherence to the star system or for a slavish appetite for personality cults.

But Sigma has changed all that by going for the jugular of its arch-rival Antenna and stealing two of its biggest household names; roving reporter Demetris Mamas and blonde anchorwoman Georgia Achilleas.

The station’s coup de grâce has prompted media moguls frantically to check whether their rising stars have water-tight contracts.

But raising the TV stakes is not a recognised charity event, so Sigma had to write more than a few zeroes onto the end of lucrative pay cheques.

Although the “transfer” fees are a closely guarded secret, Sigma PR man Zenos Zindillis told the Cyprus Mail:

“They are well paid and we gave them something extra.”

That something extra may not put Mamas and Achilleas on millionaires row, but they definitely won’t be singing for their supper.

And while Antenna is licking its wounds, Sigma number crunchers are hoping that the channel’s head-hunting offensive will prove a winner in the ratings war.

“We’ve made two signings that will cause a stir, and it’s a deal which is damaging to Antenna as they were image symbols for the station,” said Zindillis.

Sigma believes that Mamas and Achilleas will bring a slice of Antenna’s audience with them, and bolster the channel’s news coverage, which is light years behind Antenna’s in the ratings.

Media insiders said that Antenna had received a taste of its own medicine since it has not baulked in the past from poaching leading lights from other channels.

TV pundits are now waiting with bated breath to see how Antenna will react – – as it surely must — to keep its place at the top.

Whatever the outcome, the media pool has more than its fair quota of sharks.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.