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Major Russian
cable deal on horizon
Consolidation in Russia’s pay-TV market is gathering momentum, with
the Moscow-based cable operator Akado about to be bought by the telco
Svyazinvest. Kommersant reports that the acquisition will be undertaken
in two stages, with the Svyazinvest subsidiary Center Telecom initially
acquiring 50% of Akado and thereby securing operational control of the
company. Svyazinvest has been looking to enter the Moscow pay-TV market
for some time and Akado, formerly known as Renova Media, would be a good
acquisition for the company. Data published by IKS –Consulting indicates
that Akado had 670,000 broadband and 446,000 pay-TV subscribers, the vast
majority of who (600,000 and 423,000 respectively) were in the capital
itself, as of Q1 this year. Its analogue (‘social TV’) subscriber
base meanwhile stood at 985,000. Akado accounts for 5% of the Russian
broadband market and 7% of pay-TV subscribers in the country, while Svayzinvest
claims a 36% share of the broadband market. Akado currently lists Viktor
Vekselberg and Yuri Pripachkin as its main owners and is believed to be
worth some $630-650 million (€498-514 million). However, it also
has debts of $350 million.
UPC reflects on Romanian
market
UPC saw its revenues in Romania grow earlier this year and remains
optimistic about the future despite challenging market conditions. Quoting
a report published by Liberty Global, ZF says that UPC Romania’s
revenues in Q2 amounted to €30.8 million, or 1.32% more than a year
earlier. Its half-year revenues meanwhile rose by 2.3% year-on-year to
€62.3 million. The report speaks about subscriber losses, which it
attributes to strong competition from RCS/RDS and Romtelecom. UPC Romania’s
revenue increases are likely to be down to changes in its subscriber base,
with a growing number opting for additional services such as HD channels
and DVRs. Typically, such customers provide four times as much in revenues
as those receiving just analogue cable services. Significantly, the report
raises concerns about the large number of cable TV contracts that will
expire in June 2011 and a prospective law that could allow subscribers
to terminate contracts early without incurring penalties.
Cyfrowy Polsat on a roll
Poland’s leading DTH platform Cyfrowy Polsat ended Q2 with
3,263,546 subscribers, a year-on-year increase of 419,000. Of these, 2,592,000
(+281,000) received the Family/Premium and 672,000 (+139,000) the Mini/Mini
Max packages. ARPU for the former package rose by 5% year-on-year in Q2
to PLN41.9 (€10.5), while for the latter it was up by 23% to PLN10.9.
Cyfrowy Polsat’s subscriber growth was accompanied by a good financial
performance that saw its revenues rise by 22% year-on-year in Q2 to PLN377
million. Its EBITDA amounted to PLN109 million and net profit PLN67 million,
respective increases of 40% and 19% on the same period in 2009. In revenue
terms, subscriptions claimed the lion’s share of the total (91%)
in Q2 this year, followed by sales of reception equipment (3%) and telecom
services (1%). The one down side was churn, which rose from 7.3% in H1
2009 to 10% in the first six months of this year.
Czechs look to pay-TV and
3D
Pay-TV is growing rapidly in popularity in the Czech Republic,
with the number of thematic channels rising and two 3D services, operated
by IKO TV Central Europe, soon set to make their debuts. Parabola reports
that the number of pay-TV viewers in the country has risen by between
20-28% a year over the last three years, with a similar growth rate seen
in the number of viewers for thematic services provided in the Czech Republic
(and Slovakia) by IKO Central Europe. Importantly, there is still scope
for further growth in thematic services in the Czech Republic, the country
having historically been poorly served by such services compared to markets
such as Poland, Hungary and Romania. Speaking to Parabola, Erika Luzsicza,
IKO Central Europe’s director for the Czech Republic and Slovakia,
confirmed that the company is finalising plans to add two 3D channels
to its portfolio.
RTL Group may exit Russia
RTL Group may sell its 30% stake in the Russian TV station Ren
TV, which it has held for the past five years. Kommersant reports that
such a move may be inferred from RTL Group’s decision for the first
time not to include Ren TV in its latest set of results. This was put
down to an agreement signed by RTL Group and REN TV’s majority owners
National Media Group (NMG), which currently control 70% of the station,
back in April. This agreement was struck due to the fact that NMG is also
the majority (72.4%) owner of Channel Five, which is classified as a “publicly
owned channel” and therefore one in which no foreign company can
invest. Although RTL Group is not expected to exit Russia this year, it
is pursuing a strategy of pulling out of territories in which it does
not have overall control of its assets or is the market leader. This was
demonstrated as recently as last month, when it sold Five in the UK. Ren
TV was launched in 1997 and has seen a number of ownership changes in
its 13-year history. According to TNS, it is currently the sixth most
popular channel in Russia.

Czech Republic takes
to DTH services
The take-up of digital satellite TV services is growing steadily
in the Czech Republic thanks largely to the success of Skylink and CS
Link. Data produced by ATO-Mediaresearch and published by Digizone shows
that just under a third (28.9%) of households received satellite TV as
of the end of June. On the other hand, 41.1% received DTT signals and
25.1% analogue TV, though the percentage of analogue-only homes was down
to just 15%. Cable/IPTV services were meanwhile received in 24.5% of homes.
Set-top boxes were the most popular way of receiving DTT signals (26.6%
of all households, including those not watching DTT), followed by digital
TVs (14.4%) and DVD players with digital tuners (1.1%).
DTT grows in Hungary
The take-up of DTT is growing rapidly in Hungary, with the national
service MinDig TV now watched in 100,000 households, or over 12% of all
terrestrial homes. There was an over fivefold increase year-on-year in
the number of DVB-T MPEG-4 compatible receivers (set-top boxes, integrated
TV sets, PCI cards and USB sticks) sold in the first half of this year.
As a result, 8% of Hungarian households now own a DVB-T receiver. Antenna
Hungária, the operator of MinDig TV, puts this growth down to a
number of factors including significant network expansion at the end of
last year, successful marketing campaigns, the launch of the MinDig TV
extra service at the end of May and FTA coverage of the World Cup in HD.
Antenna Hungária plans to add to the 17 TV channels, three of which
are in HD, already offered by the platform and to make MinDig TV and MinDig
TV Extra available to 95% of the population by the end of this year.
Mixed picture for Comstar pay-TV operations
Russia’s Comstar-UTS ended the second quarter with 121,000
triple-play subscribers in Moscow, a 9% reduction on the same period last
year. Its ARPU was also sharply down year-on-year, by 51% in rouble terms
to R272 (€7.0) and 47% in dollars to $9.1.However, it was a different
picture in the regions, where the company ended the second quarter with
2,055,000 pay-TV subscribers, a 5% increase on a year earlier. Its ARPU
was also up, at R112 (+6%) and $3.7 (+13%). All told, the company had
2,176,000 pay-TV subscribers nationally at the end of June, or 4% more
than a year earlier. Its broadband internet subscriber total (1,437,000,
+22%), was also substantially higher.
Spotlight on major Latvian cable deal
A proposed merger of the two leading Latvian cable operators Baltkom and
Izzi is about to be scrutinised by the country’s Competition Council
(CC). DB reports that were the merger to go ahead, the resulting company
would account for around 50% of the pay-TV market in the capital, Riga,
and 30% nationally. However, these figures are questioned by the TeliaSonera-backed
incumbent telco Lattelecom, which would face greater competition from
a merged Baltkom/Izzi. It says that the latter would account for over
70% of the pay-TV market In Riga and over 40% nationally.
Digital take-up slows in Lithuania
The transition to digital broadcasting in Lithuania is not going entirely
to plan, with the number of subscribers receiving services growing by
only 8.4% in the year ended June 30. Delfi reports that the main reason
for this is believed to be a scaling back of the publicity campaign surrounding
digital TV. According to data produced by the regulator RRT, the number
of digital pay-TV subscribers in Lithuania at the end of June stood at
245,900, equivalent to around 17-18% of TV homes. However, it does not
provide figures for the number of viewers still watching FTA services.
The main player in the transition to digital broadcasting in Lithuania
is the incumbent telco TEO LT, which operates DTT and IPTV services that
both use the GALA brand name. Lithuania is due to complete ASO in 2012.
Estonian market in decline
Estonia’s ad market was worth EEK512 million (€32.7 million)
in the first half of this year. It nevertheless continues to decline in
all sectors except the internet, in some instances alarmingly. According
to data published by TNS Emor, total ad spend in Q2 amounted to EEK293.6
million, a 7.8% reduction on the same period in 2009. That for TV, which
accounted for 32.3% of the total, was 1.2% lower than in Q2 2009. Internet
spend grew by 13.2% year-on-year, while magazines posted the biggest loss
(-23.2%) over the same period. Despite falling revenues, the TV sector’s
overall share of the ad market is growing. It stood at 30% in Q2 2009
and only 27% a year earlier.
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Content
Polsat eyes international sports channel
The Polish commercial broadcaster Polsat plans to launch a volleyball
channel that will be distributed internationally as well as in Poland.
According to Wirtualne Media, the company, along with the Polish Volleyball
Association (PZPS), is currently engaged in talks with international
federations, as well as foreign broadcasters, about such a channel.
It would be launched in time for the 2014 World Volleyball Championship,
which will be held in Poland, and used to promote both Poland and the
sport itself. Although Polsat already has a growing portfolio of thematic
channels, with two further services – Polsat Sport News and a
music-based channel targeting young viewers – also in the pipeline,
this would be the first sports one targeting international as well as
local viewers.
Febio TV dream over
Any prospect of the Czech digital channel Febio TV ever making
its debut looks to have been finally extinguished. According to E15,
Fero Fenic, the founder of the film and TV production company Febio,
has decided to close the company, which has produced over 1,300 programmes
in its 18-year existence. His reason for doing so is the declining interest
in independent documentary filmmaking in the Czech Republic. Febio was
one of six companies to be awarded digital TV licences in 2006 that
were withdrawn but subsequently reinstated. However, it failed to secure
sufficient financial backing to launch a service. Ironically, Febio’s
last productions are likely to be for Barrandov TV, another of the licence
holders, which made its debut in January 2009.

 |
Chris
Dziadul Reports
VOD
bandwagon heads East
On demand services are becoming increasingly
popular in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), with Poland currently
the scene of major activity. |
Among the leading cable operators, UPC launched its VOD service UPC
na Zadanie in December 2009 with an offer that already included hundreds
of hours of movies and TV series. It has since been enhanced considerably
– most recently this week with the addition of content from Cartoon
Network – and at the same time expanded in reach from just Warsaw
to most large population centres served by the operator.
Vectra, the second largest player in the Polish cable market after
UPC, meanwhile plans to launch an on demand service shortly that it
says will have a back channel and focus more on the quality of content
rather than the volume. Among other leading cable operators, INEA, which
is based in western Poland, plans to launch its on demand service this
October, while Toya expects to give a debut to its a month earlier.
Further details about the latter will be revealed at IBC.
Both Multimedia Polska and Aster already have VOD services up and running.
In the latter case, it was launched in June 2009, employs a back channel
and plans to add sVOD to its offer in the near future.
Among Poland’s DTH platforms, n set things rolling on the VOD
front and was subsequently followed by Cyfra+ and more recently (December
2009) Cyfrowy Polsat. In the latter case, the platform differentiates
itself from the competition by offering a nVOD service, employing a
satellite transponder with 15 dedicated channels that viewers can receive
without the need to buy or rent a set-top box with a hard drive.
The incumbent telco TPSA, on the other hand, operates a VOD service
that can be received by both its IPTV (streamed) and DTH (downloaded)
subscribers.
On demand services are also provided in Poland by a growing number of
portals including onet.pl, which is owned by TVN.
Although on demand services are also being rolled out rapidly elsewhere
in the region – Romania’s Romtelecom, for instance, will
launch its on demand operation, already available to IPTV customers,
commercially this autumn – Poland is undoubtedly in the vanguard
at present.
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