HD in Central and Eastern Europe: just how well is it doing?
A vague question, perhaps, but one that should probably be asked in the light of comments made earlier this week about its progress in Russia.
To start to answer it we should wind the clock back five years and the launch of the new generation DTH platform n in Poland. It was the first service in the CEE region to offer its subscribers HD channels and was followed soon afterwards by its close competitor Cyfra+ and – in Russia – the long-established DTH platform NTV-Plus.
Since then, HD channels have become commonplace – as indeed in Western Europe – in the offers of most DTH, cable and IPTV platforms throughout the region. However, the number of viewers who watch them seems to vary considerably from market to market.
Take Russia, for instance. Despite the huge size of its pay-TV market, the number of HD viewers as of this August, according to data from the country’s HD Union, stood at only 139,000.
This was no doubt due to the high cost for the majority of viewers of receiving channels in the format. Technology also plays a factor, and the switch to DVB-T2 and from Ku to Ka-band should help in the long term.
Meanwhile in Poland, some platforms now include over 20 HD channels in their programme line-ups and Cyfrowy Polsat, the operator of the country’s leading DTH platform, announced earlier this year that a million – or almost a third – of its subscribers were already using HD receivers.
Elsewhere, HD was relatively late to appear in the Czech Republic, and TV Nova and CT, two of the country’s three leading broadcasters, both now operate channels in the format. However, there are question marks as to the future direction of HD services in the country, especially folowing the expected introduction of the DVB-T2 standard.
In Romania, Liberty Global’s UPC introduced HD channels into the market two years ago. They are now received by around 30,000 of its subscribers and the company has since also offered viewers programming in 3D.
Clearly HD services are now well established throughout Central and Eastern Europe. Although their take-up may not yet be as high as some will have wished, it is likely to grow considerably in the months and years to come.
