About

Prior to the establishment of D-smart, Oktay Demir was a legal consultant at Dogan TV Holding. He was appointed chief legal officer to take up the challenge of establishing a legal department in the newly created subsidiary. ‘The conditions were not easy. There was a monopolist pay TV company which was already dominating the Turkish market, having the most premium content: Turkish Super Football League’, he says. He established the legal department on the principle of inclusion of the legal team in the management structure and he made the legal staff real partners of the executive committee. Working in an increasingly regulated environment, his contribution has been crucial for the company, especially considering the start-up phase that it was in. ‘I can mention many important situations in which we played a crucial role but I think the most important is having persuaded the Competition Authority during its sublicense decision. The market leader which has the broadcasting rights of Turkish Super League extended its contract with Turkish Football Federation without any tender. I referred to the Competition Authority that these extensions were breaching the Act. We eventually achieved a favourable decision that allowed us to tender for the lucrative content’.