What lessons can the TV industry in Central and Eastern Europe draw from this year’s IBC in Amsterdam?
One of the biggest talking points at the convention was undoubtedly Liberty Global’s Horizon Gateway, which is edging ever closer to its long-awaited launch. It will make its debut in the Netherlands, probably by the end of this year, and then be rolled out to Switzerland and Germany in 2012. Liberty’s CEE markets, though not mentioned at this stage, will undoubtedly follow not long afterwards, with a product that will revolutionize the viewing experience for UPC Broadband subscribers throughout the region.
One of the few – and perhaps only – events at IBC dedicated solely to developments in CEE was a mini conference organised jointly by Broadband TV News and Telenor Satellite Broadcasting. In it, Magnus Ternsjö, the managing director of UPC Broadband’s DTH business, provided reasons why the company decided to re-launch the UPC Direct platform as freeSAT, as well as insights into its plans for the future.
However, a number of more general conference sessions were certainly relevant to the CEE region’s TV industry. In a keynote presented by Joanna Shields, the VP and MD EMEA of Facebook, revealed that the company now has 750 million users worldwide. It is also working increasingly with both broadcasters and production companies.
Facebook is certainly popular in CEE – one recent report put the number of users in Poland alone at 6.62 million – and its influence there, as indeed in other parts of the world, is only likely to grow.
The newly rebranded SES meanwhile spoke about the introduction of 3D in Europe, which in its view is going much better than some might believe. The key statistics it gave were that 1.7 million 3D flat screens have been sold to date and over 80 Blu-ray titles are now available in the format.
3D is certainly already making its mark in CEE, and as in the case of HD the region will almost certainly keep pace with the rest of Europe.
IBC also saw a number of announcements directly relevant to CEE. In the satellite sector, for instance, they included deals struck by Intelsat and Spacecom, both of which are becoming increasingly important players in the region.
