The coming together of the pre-paid DTH operations in the Czech Republic and Slovakia should really come as no surprise, given that they were always sister services. However, the move could just signal the start of a period of more general consolidation in CEE’s satellite TV sector.
Certainly, the last two to three years have witnessed an unprecedented growth in the number of DTH services in the region. There are now up to 35 platforms up and running, with the latest to make their debuts, such as Hello HD in Hungary and Platforma HD in Russia, tending to specialise in the distribution of HD channels.
This expansion tends to defy market logic, and as the world moves into recession – the jury is still out as to how hard CEE’s economies as a whole will be hit, though some countries are already hurting – some degree of consolidation can be seen as almost inevitable.
There are already a few telltale signs of what may be in store in such countries as Poland. Although it is currently served by three platforms – Cyfrowy Polsat, Cyfra+ and n – with the incumbent telco TPSA set to enter the market this quarter and public broadcaster TVP in Q4 2009, talk of consolidation is in the air.
Indeed, questions are currently being asked about n, which initially took the market by storm but has since struggled financially. Its 500,000-subscriber target has yet to be met, and failure to do so by the end year could, some speculate, lead to its sale by ITI Group.
Elsewhere, we still see Romania served by no fewer than five DTH platforms, while in Hungary T-Sat is set to become the country’s fourth DTH operation. Neither situation seems sustainable, at least in the long term.
Change is clearly in the air, though predicting exactly what will happen in these hugely uncertain times is far from easy.
