Fresh from its $355 million victory last May in an arbitration dispute with the Czech Republic, the central European television conglomerate controlled by the New York cosmetics heir Ronald S. Lauder, has begun a new arbitration claim for $275 million against the very television station it lost control of in 1999.
Fred Klinkhammer, chief executive of Mr. Lauder's Central European Media Enterprises, said in an interview today that the company was seeking the profits it lost when it was shut out of its Czech TV venture.
However, if the company wins its case before an arbitration panel in Vienna, Mr. Klinkhammer said, it will keep only the $72 million he argues his company is still owed by the television station, Televize Nova, and will return the remaining $203 million to the Czech treasury.
''Czech citizens are entitled to a significant lowering of the burden brought upon them'' by the actions of the previous broadcast regulators and the television station, Mr. Klinkhammer said in a statement.
A spokesman for TV Nova called the suit an attempt to bribe the Czech state into ''killing'' the station, which has openly attacked the government.
The legal fighting began in 1999, when Central European Media accused Vladimir Zelezny, its partner in TV Nova, of skimming revenue. Those accusations are still being investigated by the Czech police.
Mr. Lauder's company established TV Nova in 1995, and financed its early operations. C.M.E., as Central European Media Enterprises is known, is based in Bermuda, and owns other TV stations in Slovakia, Romania, Ukraine and Slovenia.
Mr. Zelezny was forced out earlier this year, but his brand of fast-paced, tabloid-style news, Hollywood films and American sitcoms won TV Nova more than 70 percent of the Czech audience. Directing the station's political coverage, made Mr. Zelezny one of the nation's leading political power brokers.
When Mr. Lauder's lieutenants fired Mr. Zelezny, regulators shut down TV Nova, but let Mr. Zelezny begin broadcasting his own version of TV Nova from a film studio on the edge of Prague. Mr. Lauder's loyalists were left to broadcast their evening news on an electronic billboard above Prague's main square.
In May, Central European Media won its victory before an arbitration panel in Stockholm, which ruled that the Czech state had conspired with Mr. Zelezny to deprive C.M.E. of its Czech station and that the government would have to pay $355 million.
Mr. Zelezny lost control of TV Nova this year to a Czech financial concern called the PPF Group, which appears to have been indirectly involved in TV Nova for years. C.M.E.'s latest claim is against PPF.
Troubles are mounting for TV Nova. This week, Czech officials said they might ask regulators to consider revoking TV Nova's license over its coverage of the earlier settlement with C.M.E. and political disputes.
''Perhaps the scenario here is that C.M.E. wants to get the license back,'' said Petr Kostka, a spokesman for TV Nova.
Mr. Klinkhammer said that returning to Prague was probably not an option, with Czechs still smarting over May's $355 million settlement payment to C.M.E.
''We have always said that we have a big interest in the market, but we cannot imagine any scenario where we'll be permitted to broadcast there,'' Mr. Klinkhammer said.