A report recently appeared in the Czech press about the growing challenge thematic channels are posing to TV Nova and Prima TV, the country’s two leading commercial broadcasters.
On the face of it, there may be some substance to the argument. Although TV Nova and Prima TV, which have powerful backers in CME and MTG respectively, account for the lion’s share of both TV ad spend and audience share, channels such as the music-based Ocko, Spektrum TV and Galaxie Sport (which is, in fact, owned by CME) are certainly gaining viewers.
The landscape will also be changed by new market entrants, most probably next year, when the row over the Czech digital TV channel licence awards and their subsequent annulment is finally resolved. While TV Nova and Prima TV are likely to obtain digital licences, most probably in exchange from their analogue ones due to expire in a still distant 2017, so too will such companies as Febio TV, one of the country’s leading independent producers.
And yet TV Nova and – to a lesser degree Prima TV – are unlikely to relinquish their dominant positions in the Czech marketplace anytime soon. If anything, they will be strengthened still further next year when the public broadcaster CT finally stops carrying advertising (though, it has to be said, that there are political moves currently under way to allow CT commercial airtime again).
In an exclusive interview with Broadband TV News earlier this week, TV Nova’s CEO Petr Dvorak said that 2006 saw “huge restructuring” at the station in order to prepare it for the future, with one of the main changes to be introduced being variable – as opposed to fixed, year-round – prices for its clients.
He added that although the Broadcasting Council (RRTV) had last year turned down TV Nova’s application for four channels (news, movies, sport and series) to be distributed on each of two multiplexes, its plans for new digital services remain the same.
TV Nova’s strategy is one of becoming increasingly focused on its own content, and some in-house productions still attain extraordinarily high audience shares (the average for the flagship news bulletin, for instance, is around 70%, even amongst non-target groups).
Dvorak also said that the only way to enter the Czech market at present is through niche channels. However, it should be borne in mind that the combined audience share of such channels, when delivered by cable, has remained relatively static over the last six to seven years.
With the introduction of DTT, IPTV and new DTH services over the last year, the Czech market is clearly changing. While its future is far from easy to predict, TV Nova is certain to continue playing a leading role.(CD)
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