Polish DTT row continues
Poland’s National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT) has ruled out the possibility of the religious-based channel TV Trwam securing a slot on the country’s first DTT multiplex. It has also provided an assessment of the transition to digital broadcasting to date and given insights into how the process will continue. In a statement, the regulator said despite protests from five parties, including the Lux Veritas Foundation, the operator of TV Trwam, it had upheld a decision made on July 29 last year to award DTT licences to Eska TV (for a channel named Eska TV), ATM Grupa (ATM Rozrywka), Stavka (U-TV) and Lemon Records (Polo TV). It added that the public broadcaster TVP could continue to use the first multiplex until April 27, 2014, after which three additional slots will become available on the multiplex. The KRRiT will begin preparations for a tender for these slots in the next few months. Commenting specifically on the Lux Veritas Foundation, the regulator said that it could already distribute TV Trwam via satellite (Astra 1H) and cable. Like countless other channels including TVN24, Polsat News, Religia TV and Superstacja, TV Trwam will have to continue relying on such distribution following ASO. However, speaking to the local press, the head of the KRRiT said that the main reason TV Trwam failed to get a DTT licence was its difficult financial situation and probable inability to pay an annual distribution fee of PLN10 million (€2.28 million) on the first multiplex. The Lux Veritas Foundation nevertheless believes the KRRiT’s decision is politically motivated and an attack on the Roman Catholic Church in Poland.

NEWSLINE

MTS assesses pay-TV progress
Russia’s Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) ended 2011 with 3 million pay-TV subscribers, while the number receiving digital services increased by 25% during the year. MTS’s internet subscriber total meanwhile exceeded 2 million at the end of 2011. According to MTS, its focus in 2011 was on the implementation of several construction projects and the modernisation of fixed line networks, along with the migration of subscribers from analogue to digital services. Its aim is to convert all its networks to digital by Q2 this year. MTS provides broadband and pay-TV services employing ADSL, DOCSIS, GPON, FTTB and IPTV technology to a potential 10 million homes in more than 120 cities throughout Russia.

RTL Hungarian deal approved
The Hungarian Competition Office (GVH) has approved the acquisition of a controlling stake in IKO Media Holding by RTL Group Central and Eastern Europe. According to BBJ, the GVH has not disclosed the size of the stake. The move is significant for the country’s TV industry in that IKO Media Holding owns Magyar RTL Televizio, the operator of RTL Klub, the leading TV station in Hungary. Last July it was announced that RTL Group had acquired the 31% shares in RTL Klub it did not already own, as well as secured complete ownership of the cable channels Cool, Film+, Film+2, Reflector, Prizma, Sorozat+ and Muzsika TV.

Serbian telco secures OTE sale funding
Telekom Srbija has secured a loan of €470 million, €320 million of which will be used for the acquisition of 20% of shares in the company owned by Greece’s OTE and the remaining €150 million for the refinancing of existing loans. In a statement, the Serbian incumbent telco says that the loan, which has a maturity of three years, has been obtained from 19 domestic and international banks including Credit Agricole, Erste, Eurobank EFG, Commercial Bank Belgrade, Intesa Saopaulo, Raiffeisen and Bank of Vojvodina, in coordination with UniCredit. The sale of the stake, which was first announced last month, should help bring down OTE’s debts, which are understood to be in the region of €750 million. Deutsche Telekom-backed OTE has been a shareholder in Telekom Srbija since 1997.

Vivacom attracts foreign interest
Telekom Austria and Turkcell are both interested in buying the Bulgarian incumbent telco BTC, which operates under the brand name Vivacom and includes a DTH platform named Vivacom TV among its interest. Quoting Austrian sources, Novinite reports that although part of Telekom Austria’s management is in favour of a deal, its CFO Hans Tschuden is against, fearing that the company could experience the same problems in Bulgaria as it has in Belarus. The Austrian telco already has a presence in Bulgaria through the mobile company Mobiltel. Turkcell, too, is eyeing Vivacom but has yet to decide on whether to make a bid for the company. Other suitors are understood to include the head the Corporate Commercial Bank in Bulgaria. Vivacom has undergone a number of ownership changes in the last few years and was until last year being courted by Oger Telecom. .

Croatia considers telco tax
Croatia’s government is set to re-introduce a controversial 6% tax on the telecom sector. Though targeting mobile telephony, the move is likely to have widespread implications for the industry as a whole. Balkan Insight reports that Croatia’s three mobile operators – Hrvatski Telekom (T-HT), Vipnet and Tele2 Croatia – have all issued statements condemning the tax, which was originally introduced by the previous centre-right government and expired at the beginning of this year. It would now be extended until July 1, 2013, the target date for Croatia’s entry into the EU, and generate annual revenues of HRK300 million (€66.2 million). Both T-HT and Vipnet are key players in Croatia’s pay-TV industry, the former through the operation of two IPTV services (one via a subsidiary) and DTH platform and latter through its ownership of the leading cable operator B.net and a DTH platform.

Rostelecom inks Disney deal, eyes Armenia
The Russian telco Rostelecom has signed a licensing agreement with Disney under which it will be able to offer the latter’s content – both in SD and HD - to its IPTV subscribers on an on demand basis. Although Rostelecom currently operates IPTV platforms, with a total of over 500,000 subscribers, under various names including Avangard TV (North West Federal District), U-Tel (Ural Federal District) and Disel TV (South and North Caucasus Federal District), they are expected to be brought under a single brand name sometime this year. In a separate development, it has been reported that Romtelecom plans to enter the market in Armenia through the acquisition of a 75% minus one share in the operator GNC-Alfa. It is also understood to be targeting the ISP Ucom. According to Kommersant, the two Armenian companies together account for at least 13% of the country’s broadband market.

Czech Voyo sets ambitious target
The Czech on demand service Voyo.cz aims to end this year with 100,000 subscribers, according to Pavel Krbec, the head of internet operations at TV Nova. Quoted by Digizone, he added that several thousand people are already paying to receive Voyo.cz, which introduced a fee in mid-December, having initially operated as a free service since its launch early last year. At present Voyo.cz costs CZK189 (€7.38) a month to receive. TV Nova is owned by CME, which has broadcasting operations in six CEE markets including the Czech Republic. Its on demand service Voyo in Slovenia has operated on a pay basis since its launch and all the others will do so from early this year.

Tough times for Serbian station
The owners of the national Serbian TV station TV Avala have given assurances to the industry regulators RRA and Ratel that will resolve a dispute with their employees. Novosti reports that a strike at TV Avala that has lasted for three weeks could result in its licence being revoked. However, Danko Dunic, TV Avala’s chairman of the board and a 45.65% shareholder, said he was confident a solution would be found and that back wages would be paid to the employees and all other obligations met. Zeljko Mirovic, a 4.95% shareholder in TV Avala, meanwhile revealed that €30 million has been invested in the station and its owners are in debt.

Bosnia joins digital TV grouping
Bosnia’s Communications Regulatory Agency (CRA) has become a fully- fledged member of the regional SEE Digital.TV project. Implemented under the umbrella of the South East Europe Transnational Cooperation Programme 2007-2013, funded by the EU, the aim of the project is to harmonise the legal, economic and technical aspects, as well as the framework, of the digital switchover process in the South East Europe region. The project also aims to provide efficient information to consumers about the digitisation process. The other members of the SEE Digital.TV project are Slovenia, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Albania.

[Back to Top]

CONTENT

New CME channel for Bulgaria
Central European Media Enterprises (CME) has announced the launch of a new channel in Bulgaria. Known as bTV Lady and targeting a female audience, the service will officially make its debut on January 28 and offer a wide range of programming, including Turkish and Latin American telenovellas and US series, under the slogan “More for Her”. CME already has a strong presence in Bulgaria, operating the national channel bTV and thematic services bTV Cinema, bTV Comedy, bTV Action and Ring.bg. BTV Lady will be the 30th channel the company has launched in Central and Eastern Europe since it began operating in the region in 1994.

Poland gains English learning channel
English Club TV, an educational channel dedicated to the learning of the English language, has made its debut in Poland. This follows an agreement between its operator ECTV Network and Program Sp. z o.o., part of the 4fun Media Capital Group, signed at the beginning of this month. English Club TV, which is already available in 25 countries in Western Europe and Asia, will now be distributed via cable, DTH and IPTV in Poland. It joins a growing list in Program’s channel portfolio that already includes History, Crime & Investigation Network, Da Vinci Learning, Playboy, 4fun.tv, Rebel:tv, TV Disco, CNBC and NTV Mir.

[Back to Top]

On line and on demand
Online VOD services are becoming an increasingly familiar feature of the TV landscape in Central and Eastern Europe.

However, it is probably too early to talk about them being a big success in all but a handful of markets.

Take Voyo, which was launched by Central European Media Enterprises (CME) in the Czech Republic at the beginning of last year and subsequently rolled out in the five other countries in the region the company operates in. Having introduced a monthly fee of €7.38 in December for which viewers are given access to everything in its library, the Czech service has set the ambitious target – by its own admission – of 100,000 paying subscribers by the end of this year.

While this may be achievable in the Czech Republic, Voyo’s sister services are likely to have more modest goals in terms of subscriber numbers. In any case, the Czech Republic is probably a lucrative market for online VOD, with Topfun Media, which is backed by the financial group J&T, expected to launch what has been described as a “Czech Netflix” later this year.

Poland, too, is a hive of activity thanks in no small part to the success of such on demand services as ipla, which is operated by Redefine, backed by Polsat founder and owner Zygmunt Solorz; and OnetVOD (vod.onet.pl) and the recently-launched tvnplayer.pl, both of which are linked to the national commercial broadcaster TVN. Others include a service, known as Telewizja Osobista (‘Personal Television’), launched late last year and operated by the alternative telco Netia.

Meanwhile in Russia an online VOD service named Yota Play, operated by Yota and the WiMax provider Scartel, made its debut last summer. Offering content on a pay-per-view basis, it joined a growing market already served by such companies as the leading mobile (and pay-TV) operator MTS.

Alongside these developments in the region have come the appearances of such services as HBO Go, with the streaming operation having made its regional debut in Poland in partnership with the cable operator Inea in late 2010 and then subsequently introduced in several other countries last year.

It is also interesting to note that research published by Gemius last September found online VOD services to be nine times more popular in Hungary than in Denmark.

These are certainly exciting times for the delivery of on demand content over the internet in CEE, with more interesting developments likely in the near future.

[Back to Top]

Editor: Chris Dziadul +44 20 8995 1287

Advertising: Chris Griffin: cgriffin@broadbandtvnews.com

Subscribe/Change Details: By Email | RSS

Website: www.broadbandtvnews.com

Social Networking: Facebook | Linkedin | Twitter