The Croatian incumbent telco T-HT has signed a 10-year agreement with Eutelsat for three transponders in the 16 degrees East neighbourhood. The deal will allow the Deutsche Telekom-backed company to roll out its MAXtv pay-TV platform to all homes in Croatia, thereby consolidating its position as one of the country’s top providers of digital services.
T-HT launched the IPTV service MAXtv in September 2006 and it is today one of the most successful in Central and Eastern Europe, claiming over 270,000 subscribers.
MAXtv Sat, the company’s newly launched DTH operation, reaches beyond the telco’s ADSL network, particularly semi-urban and rural communities, as well as Croatian islands in the Adriatic.
T-HT’s ADSL subscribers will meanwhile now also be offered a new hybrid box giving them access to a number of programme packages, including a sports one with exclusive content, and FTA channels. These will soon be followed by advanced features, including a recording service called Snimalica, video library, interactive internet content and HD channels.
Significantly T-HT is the first company in the Telekom group to introduce such a hybrid service.
MAXtv Sat was launched last month and competes in a Croatian DTH market also served by Total TV, which is backed by Austria’ s BEWAG, and RCS/RDS-owned Digi TV.
Like MAXtv Sat, the former is distributed by Eutelsat.
