The Polish new generation DTH platform n ended October with 400,000 subscribers. At the same time, the recently launched Freesat-style service Telewizja na karte (TNK) had already secured its first 20,000 customers.
According to n, which is owned by ITI (75%) and TVN (25%), it accounts for 80% of pay-TV subscribers in Poland who receive HD channels and is the only DTH platform not to charge extra for HD services.
Separately, Satkurier reports that a distribution agreement for TVN channels on the DTH platform Cyfrowy Polsat will end in 2009, rather than 2011 as had previously been thought.
Negotiations between the two parties are likely to prove difficult, given their priorities. Platform n, for instance, is interested in the channel Polsat and an eventual Polsat HD, rather than Polsat’s thematic services.
Cyfrowy Polsat, on the other hand, would probably lose a large number of subscribers should it stop carrying TVN’s thematic channels.