Telma

What is Telma?

Telma is a national commercial television broadcaster in North Macedonia, publishing at telma.com.mk with sport under the path /kategorija/sport.^[1][2] Its own page states “Сопственичка структура: Макпетрол АД Скопје 100%” and names as responsible person Снежана Лупевска Созен.^[3]

The media regulator's 2025 ownership report agrees on the owner and adds its shareholding: “„Макпетрол“ акционерското друштво за промет со нафта и нафтени деривати е единствен сопственик на ТВ Телма. Тоа има вкупно 2.376 акционери, а речиси една четвртина од акциите (24,88%) ги поседува Командитното друштво со акции за транспорт „Оилко“ Скопје.” The report takes shareholder data from the Central Registry as at 5 May 2025.^[4]

What does Telma cover?

Telma's sport category page for 10 to 24 September 2026 was mostly domestic. It carried an interview on women's handball on 24 September, an item on 22 September that Alkaloid, Ohrid and Butel had learned their opponents in the EHF European Cup, and on the same day the absence of a player from the national football team in the Nations League. It also carried an item on 15 September on Macedonia's defeat by Portugal at EuroVolley 2026, and on the same day items on a Макпетрол athlete's silver at the European Universities Championships, on Nairobi as host of the 2029 World Athletics Championships and on Belgrade as host of the 2029 Europa League final.^[2]

Two items concerned its owner's sponsorship and club. On 23 September 2026 Telma reported that Макпетрол and the football federation had signed an agreement supporting the national team, and on 21 September that a Макпетрол team had won six medals at a “Купот на шампиони” in Podgorica.^[2] Telma's reports on Макпетрол are reports by a channel that Макпетрол owns.^[3]

The regulator's programme supervision covered Telma. The regulator's regular programme supervision of 1 April 2025 covered TV Alsat-M, TV Telma, TV Alfa, TV Kanal 5 and TV Sitel; it checked commercial communications, the protection of minors, quiz and contest rules, premium-rate telephone services and gaming broadcasts, and reported: “Со надзорот не се констатирани прекршувања од Законот за аудио и аудиовизуелни медиумски услуги”.^[5]

How large is Telma's audience?

Television audience figures in North Macedonia were not retrieved from an audited audience currency, and the regulator's ownership report retrieved publishes none per channel.^[4] The regulator's 2024 market analysis carries a chart of shares of total viewing, “Удел во вкупната гледаност”, without naming its data source; its values could not be read consistently and are not given here.^[6] The most recent per-channel figure retrieved is a regulator survey for the first quarter of 2020, reported by Meta.mk on 12 May 2020: by computer-assisted telephone interview of 2,400 respondents, 32.21 per cent said they had watched Telma.^[7] That is reported viewing in one quarter six years before the build date, as a news site reported it, and not a measured audience share.

The regulator's 2024 market analysis gives Telma's 2024 revenues as MKD 152.61 million in its Table 9 of the national terrestrial channels.^[6] Revenue is not audience. The regulator's announcement of 26 September 2025 gives the industry's total revenues in 2024 as MKD 3,219.21 million and the combined revenues of all commercial television stations as MKD 1,607.39 million.^[8]

Since when has Telma existed?

Telma's own page, as retrieved, gives its ownership and responsible person but no founding or first-broadcast date, and the regulator's ownership report retrieved gives none for the channel.^[3][4] No founding date is given here. The site's footer carries the line “@2020 - telma.com.mk. All Right Reserved. Designed and Developed by UNET”, which dates the site's design and not the channel.^[1]

Why does Telma matter in North Macedonia's sport?

Telma is one of the five national terrestrial channels in the regulator's records, and its owner is a listed company with 2,376 shareholders according to the regulator.^[4] Its sport page in September 2026 carried Macedonian handball, football and volleyball.^[2] Its owner's agreement with the football federation, reported by Telma on 23 September 2026, links the channel's owner to the national team as a sponsor.^[2]

Reporters Without Borders, in its 2026 World Press Freedom Index entry, ranks North Macedonia 45th of 180 with a score of 69.49. It states: “Although certain types of media concentration are prohibited by law, the editorial staff of some of the major TV channels are exposed to economic pressures from their owners.” It also states: “The two largest parties (in power and in opposition) have created parallel media systems over which they exert their political and economic influence.”^[9] Those are RSF's characterisations of the sector; RSF does not name a channel in them. RSF's entry also states: “Although television is the dominant source of information, online media play an important role.”^[9]