TV Nova has been the dominant player in the Czech TV industry since its launch in 1994 and looks well placed to hold on to the top spot in the country’s newly emerging digital marketplace.
The news that the CME-backed broadcaster has secured a licence to operate a localised version of MTV should come as no surprise, given that its sister station Pro TV reached a similar deal in Romania late last year. It clearly reinforces CME’s multichannel strategy in all seven CEE markets the company is now present in.
Indeed, once MTV Czech makes its debut in the first half of 2009, it will join a portfolio of services that already includes Nova Cinema and Nova Sport, and more could well follow.
However, things are not quite so straightforward. In a wide-ranging interview in the leading Czech business title Hospodarské noviny (HN) earlier this week, Petr Dvorak, the head of TV Nova, said that he would like to see the broadcaster awarded more what are termed ‘compensatory’ licences.
Having signed up, along with its rival Prima TV, to the Czech digitalisation plan this summer, TV Nova is allowed to broadcast its main channel digitally, to what is currently around 50% of the population, and to launch a second channel, for which it has been awarded such a ‘compensatory’ licence. The latter, according to Dvorak, will make its debut in the first half of next year.
However, any further channels it wishes to launch will, unless they receive compensatory licences, have to be distributed via cable and satellite and have a smaller reach. Dvorak would therefore like to see a change in the law that will allow TV Nova to obtain more compensatory licences.
Whether TV Nova manages to achieve this remains to be seen. The main focus at the moment is on the re-launch of Galaxie Sport as Nova Sport on October 4, along with TV Nova’s developing internet strategy.
The latter has already seen the introduction of an online video sharing service – designed, importantly, not to compete with the likes of YouTube and Facebook, but rather to complement them – that will eventually be available in all CME markets.
Nova Sport meanwhile aims to model itself, to some degree, on Eurosport, though it will of course not have the pan-European profile. It will, however, probably look into offering programming in HD, though opt for IPTV and cable rather than DTH distribution on the grounds of cost.
All in all, the next 9-12 months promise to be some of the most eventful so far in TV Nova’s history.
