Ora News

Ora News is one of the television channels dedicated to 24-hour news broadcasting. The TV station also has a wide range of programs focused on current events in Albania and news from around the world. The television station is affiliated with RTV Ora, both of which share the same founder and former shareholders and were recently under the umbrella of the Ndroqi Family.

Ora News programs are rebroadcast on the Radio Ora waves, while the sister channel, RTV Ora, primarily focuses on debate shows, but both channels exchange their programs and productions. Furthermore, the key journalists are present on both channels. In addition to the two television stations and the radio, there is also the website Oranews.tv in the same group, which republishes and broadcasts materials generated by the television stations.

However, the fate of the connection between these channels is unclear after the confiscation of RTV ORA and the radio, owned by Ora Sha, in September 2023, following the Supreme Court's rejection of the former owners' appeal against the confiscation decision made by the Special Court of Appeal in April 2023. Ora Sha was owned by Ylli Ndroqi and his spouse. Ora News was also affected by the confiscation, with 30% of the shares previously owned by the Ndroqi family falling under state management.

The history of Ora News, as it stands today, includes a series of transactions that began with the establishment of a simple trading company by two Italian businessmen in 1993. The company, "TEKNOTRADE LTD," was involved in the wholesale and retail trade of various goods. The company's shares were traded several times.

In 2003, the company underwent further changes, as the Italian businessmen initially sold or donated their shares to Albanian businessman Geront Selenica and The Point company.

A decision by the Supreme Court in 2013, which examined an administrative dispute between the company and the National Council of Radio Television (now the Audiovisual Media Authority), indicates that the company had been broadcasting under the name Tele 1 since 2003. According to this decision, the company had violated its license by rebroadcasting channels like CNN and BBC without the appropriate rights. However, the court ruled in favor of the company in its dispute with the National Council of Radio Television.

At the National Business Center, the company did not report any activity until 2010, except for the 2007 balance sheet, which showed a profit of 103,000 lek. In 2010, the company was purchased by Ylli Ndroqi for 200,000 euros and changed its name to Channel One.

Ndroqi had previously bought Ora News (now RTV Ora) shares for 25 million lek from Ilda Prifti, an 18-year-old at the time with no other commercial activity. Prifti had registered the company in her name and can be considered the founder of the brand, despite subsequent changes.

From this point on, the two television stations became fully integrated, although there were changes in ownership. In 2010, Ndroqi donated 40% of Ora Sha's shares, which then controlled Ora News, to his wife. Meanwhile, in 2011, Channel One's shares were sold by Ndroqi to his close associate Astrit Sejdini for 26.5 million lek.

In 2013, Ndroqi bought back these shares for the same amount of money. Meanwhile, in March 2019, he sold 70% of the company that owned Channel One to Sejdini again, this time for 2.4 million lek, while the entire company was valued at only 3.5 million lek, almost 9 times cheaper than in 2011.

In September 2019, companies owned by Ndroqi, his wife, and their close associate Sejdini undertook a series of actions to unify the brand. On September 16, 2019, the channel that had been broadcasting as Ora News was renamed Rtv Ora and transformed from a 24-hour news channel into a generalist television channel, including entertainment and movies in its broadcast, as well as the main debate shows of Ora News. Meanwhile, the channel previously known as Channel One was renamed to Ora News.

These changes were announced on the oranews.tv website but were not reflected in the National Business Center. This change also affected the oranews.tv website and Radio Ora. All media outlets use the same website and also exchange programs. The renaming of the two television stations occurred just a few months after Ndroqi sold his shares to his brother-in-law Sejdini for the second time. Sejdini is publicly known as "Shef Titi" and was the host of a cooking show on television.

A year later, the Special Anti-Corruption Structure (SPAK) announced the initiation of a wealth investigation, based on the Antimafia law, against Ylli Ndroqi, and in August 2020, his and his wife's shares were placed under preventive seizure. The seizure included 30% of the shares of the company Channel One, which controlled the television channel Ora News and the oranews.tv website, and 100% of the shares of Ora Sha, which controlled the television broadcasting with the Rtv Ora logo and Radio Ora.

The Special Court Against Corruption and Organized Crime found the prosecution's claim proven and ordered the confiscation of Ndroqi's assets, including shares in television and radio. Ndroqi appealed the decision.

In January 2023, before the Special Court of Appeal against Organized Crime and Corruption could consider the case, with the consent of Farudin Arapi, the state administrator of 30% of the shares confiscated from Ylli Ndroqi, the company Channel One officially changed its name to Ora News. Also, in the documents signed by the company after this change, the Ora News logo appears, similar to that used by Rtv Ora. Both television stations are broadcast live on the oranews.tv website, along with Radio Ora, which rebroadcasts their programs.

In April 2023, by decision of the Special Court of Appeal against Organized Crime and Corruption, based on the Antimafia law, Ndroqi's and his wife's shares were confiscated by a final decision.

In September 2023, the Supreme Court rejected a request from Ndroqi and his wife to suspend the decision of the Court of Appeal. At the same time, the National Business Center transferred Ndroqi's shares to the company that owns Ora News and those to Ora Sha, which controls the radio, on behalf of the Agency for the Administration of Seized and Confiscated Assets.

Meanwhile, despite the confiscation of his shares, documents show that Ndroqi co-signed the approval of the 2022 balance sheets, where the company reported a loss of 634,000 lek.

In 2022, the company was fined 50 million lek by the General Tax Directorate, on charges of evading obligations by not paying full insurance for journalists and other media employees. Company representatives considered the fine an attempt to shut them down and pointed out that the alleged violations had occurred during the time the company was managed by state appointed administrators.

Despite the business situation, the television stations have continued to maintain an editorial stance critical of the government and specifically the mayor of Tirana. Ndroqi and his supporters have described the confiscations as an attack on media freedom due to their editorial stance. Ndroqi publicly disclosed messages from the mayor of Tirana, in which the latter expressed dissatisfaction with the television station. Veliaj responded by accusing Ndroqi of blackmail.