Russia’s Gazprom-Media Holding has taken a controlling stake the National Satellite Company (NSC), which operates the DTH platform Tricolor TV. Given that it already owns NTV-Plus, the company will now oversee two satellite operations with a combined total of over 6 million subscribers.
Tricolor TV is currently the fastest growing DTH platform in Europe, claiming 5 million subscribers, of whom 3.7 million received pay services, as of June this year. NTV-Plus is meanwhile the longest-established DTH platform in CEE, having made its debut in 1996.
There appear to be strong synergies in the deal. It will give Tricolor TV access to NTV-Plus’s premium content at discount prices and at the same time NTV-Plus, a top-of-the-range service with mostly affluent urban subscribers, a much wider reach.
No financial details of the deal have been disclosed.
