In a wide-ranging interview with the Polish press, SES-Astra president Ferdinand Kayser has revealed that the satellite operator has been engaged in talks with the Polish public broadcaster TVP about the launch of a DTH platform since 2006. He has also said that it is holding talks with both public and private broadcasters in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, though these are at the stage those were in Poland a year ago.
While not wishing to go into any specifics about a Polish DTH platform, Kayser added that SES-Astra would leave content and the supply and financing of decoders for a future Polish platform entirely in TVP’s hands and be only responsible for the creation of technologically neutral infrastructure. He also ruled out any political dimension to the platform, it having been conceived when the Law and Justice (PiS) party was in office.
Reports point to a link between the SES/TVP platform and a Letter of Intent (LoI) signed by TVP, Polish Radio and the mobile operator Polkomtel earlier this year to jointly develop a DTT operation. However, this has not been confirmed by any source.
Poland is already served by three DTH platforms – Cyfrowy Polsat, Cyfra+ and n – with a combined total of just over 3 million subscribers.