Latvian Media Market

Latvia’s media market is the most structurally complex of the three Baltic states, shaped by a linguistically divided audience (around 63% Latvian-speaking, roughly 25% Russian-speaking), a landmark 2025 merger of its two public broadcasters, a commercial sector dominated by pan-Baltic ownership groups, and a long tail of independently owned niche titles, some thriving, some struggling.

Latvijas Televīzija, VSIA (€31.5 million, +9.2%, loss €873,772, margin -2.8%) is the state-owned public broadcaster, operating LTV1 and LTV7 (which carried selected Russian-language programming until 2025). Despite strong revenue growth, LTV posted a loss, a structural consequence of its exit from the advertising market in January 2021, which increased dependency on state budget allocations and removed a revenue buffer. LTV is a full member of the European Broadcasting Union and hosted Eurovision 2003 and the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships in 2006 and 2021. Crucially, from 2 January 2025, LTV formally merged with Latvijas Radio into a single entity called Latvijas Sabiedriskais Medijs (LSM), completing a convergence process begun in 2013. The merger was accompanied by a planned funding increase, rising from 0.10% of GDP in 2025 to 0.12% by 2027. Latvijas Radio, VSIA (€15 million, +11.7%, profit €114,597, margin 0.8%) operates Latvijas Radio 1, Latvijas Radio 2, and other stations.

The commercial market leader is All Media Latvia, SIA (€31.5 million, +4.3%, profit €7.9 million, margin 25.2%). It operates TV3, TV3 Life, Star FM, and tv3.lv, and is owned by All Media Group, UAB (PLT VII International S.a r.l. — Providence Equity Partners). Despite being broadly the same turnover as LTV, All Media Latvia’s profitability is dramatically stronger. In 2024, TV3 Group also acquired the live sports rights portfolio of Viaplay Group across the Baltics, including Premier League and UEFA Champions League coverage.

Helio Media, SIA (€14.1 million, +10.3%, profit €100,997, margin 0.7%) operates 8TV, a Latvian-language entertainment channel. It is owned by Lattelecom BPO, SIA, a part of the telecommunications company TET, an unusual case of a telecoms company owning a TV broadcaster. Žurnāls Santa, SIA (€6.1 million, -0.7%, profit €662,257, margin 10.8%) publishes the popular women’s magazine Ieva, Ievas Padomu Avīze, Ievas Stāsti, and Privātā Dzīve, and is owned by Santa Anča and Ivars Zariņš.

Delfi, AS (€5.5 million, -1.1%, profit €594,281, margin 10.7%) operates the delfi.lv portal and is owned by Ekspress Grupp AS (Hans H. Luik), part of the same Estonian media group’s cross-Baltic presence. Despite a small revenue dip, its double-digit profit margin reflects the efficiency of the portal model. TVNET Grupa, SIA (€4.6 million, +10.8%, profit €39,625, margin 0.9%) operates tvnet.lv and is a subsidiary of AS Postimees Grupp (Margus Linnamäe), another cross-border Estonian ownership stake in the Latvian market.

EHR MedijuGrupa, SIA (€1.8 million, +57.2%, profit €176,672, margin 9.9%) operates EHR (Eiropas Hitu Radio) and is owned by a consortium of Ričards Zakss, Uģis Polis, and Guntars Traubergs Investment, SIA. Radio Skonto LV, SIA (€1.8 million, +4.2%, loss €121,965, margin -6.8%) operates Radio Skonto and is owned by RS Media, SIA, a consortium of Baiba Ābele, Ivars Laimonis Embrekts, and Edijs Akolovs. Dienas Žurnāli, SIA (€1.5 million, -1.2%, loss €72,231, margin -4.8%) publishes the illustrated history magazine Ilustrētā pasaules vēsture and is owned by Walburg OÜ (Mait Laidvee) and Gatis Madžiņš.

Press Distribution Center, SIA (€2.2 million, +1.2%, loss €131,347) distributes Russian-language publications Latviskije vesti and Subbota and is owned by Andrejs Kozlovs. Baltic Technical Service, SIA (€659,000, +169%, profit €91,912, margin 13.9%) publishes MK Latvija (МК-Латвия), a Russian-language tabloid, owned by Vasilijs Zeļeņins, an eye-catching revenue jump from a base of only €245,000 in 2023.

Latvia’s 2024–2027 media policy guidelines committed the government to greater transparency around media ownership and independence from political interference. The 2024 launch of LSM+, a new multilingual public media service, now delivers content in English, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Polish, a direct response to the banning of Russian television channels following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which left Latvia’s Russian-speaking minority with sharply reduced domestic media options.

Key Media Companies, Latvia (2024)

Source: Baltic Media Health Check 2024–2025 (SSE Riga / Re:Baltica). Figures from annual reports obtained via Lursoft. * TVNET Grupa is a subsidiary of Postimees Grupp, which operates on a May–April financial year; 2024 data corresponds to the period May 1, 2024 – April 30, 2025.