HCA/HCTA Tihany. Major concerns are emerging about Hungary’s future DTT platform, operated by Antenna Hungaria and due to launch before the end of this year.
They relate principally to RTL Klub and TV2, the country’s two leading broadcasters, and their willingness, or otherwise, to be carried by the service, to be known as MinDigTV.
RTL Klub and TV2 risk losing their automatic right to digital terrestrial carriage should they refuse to go on the platform, and if they refuse they risk undermining the entire venture.
ASO will take place in Hungary at the end of 2011, and the two stations have analogue licences that expire in mid-2012.
Speaking exclusively to Broadband TV News, Ferenc Kery, the president of the HCA, said there is also a problem with the carriage of the channel Viasat 3 on the DTT platform.
The cable industry is against Viasat 3 being offered for free on MinDigTV – as is expected – and at the same charge continue to charge cable operators (and therefore their subscribers) a fee.
Further doubts about DTT in Hungary relate to the size of the market. The country is highly cabled and has three DTH platforms. As a result, it is estimated that its potential market for DTT is no more than around 800,000 households.
