Sense has prevailed in the Spanish DTT market after an agreement between Prisa and Mediapro to operate a single pay platform. It means a single receiver with Nagravision conditional access will be used by all the players.
Business daily Expansión says the two companies, which have fought a series of battles over access to premium sports content, will join together with the transmission company Albertis. Under the term’s of the agreement, Prisa will sell capacity for two DTT channels to Mediapro in return for a stake in the new group.
Prisa’s Sogecable subsidiary will handle subscriber management for the platform. It is expected the first new pay channels will appear in September under the Canal+ brand licensed by Prisa for its pay-TV activities. The cost is likely to be in the range of the €15 charged by Prisa for the sole existing DTT pay channel, Mediapro’s Gol TV.
However, the prospects for terrestrial TV remain uncertain following January’s decision by Dahlia TV to withdraw from the market.