The rollout of DTT is proving to be a far from straightforward process in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), with services up and running in only around half a dozen countries. However, as the month draws to close, one of its leading markets (Hungary) is preparing to launch a platform and a second (Poland) about to announce a tender.
Doubts as to whether Hungary would ever embark on the transition to digital broadcasting appear to have finally been dispelled by an official announcement from Antenna Hungária, the multiplex licence holder, that the country’s DTT operation, known as MinDig TV, will make its debut on December 1.
This implies that a deal has been done, at very much the last minute, with RTL Klub and TV2, Hungary’s two national commercial broadcasters. Failure to have them onboard would have effectively grounded the whole project.
Meanwhile in Poland, a debate that has been raging about DTT since earlier this year is entering yet another phase. If all goes according to plan, the regulator UKE could finally announce a competition for the planned second multiplex before the end of this month.
And yet there have been so many twists and turns in the rumbling Polish DTT saga that nothing can and should be taken for granted. The biggest stumbling block is, as was the case in Hungary and until recently the Czech Republic, the participation of its main commercial broadcasters, who ultimately have to agree to relinquish their analogue licences – valid in the case of Poland until 2014 – for digital ones.
Poland will almost certainly have a DTT platform this time next year, though it may be pushed to complete ASO by 2012.
The same could be said for neighbouring Slovakia, which has just seen a municipal court in the capital, Bratislava, suspend a tender being organised by the country’s Telecom Office (TU SR). The decision, which has taken many by surprise, is to some degree reminiscent of the digital TV licence suspension in the Czech Republic a couple of years ago: undertaken following protests by an aggrieved party and with the potential to put back the digitalisation process by months, if not years.
It seems there is never a dull moment in the transition to digital broadcasting in CEE. Unfortunately, the delays in launching DTT services continue, and as a result their eventual take-up in some markets is likely to be adversely affected.
