Just how much should we read into the Q4 and full-year results now being reported by some of the leading players in CEE’s TV industry?
Take the case of Poland’s TVN and Telekomunikacja Polska (TPSA), both of which published theirs earlier this week. On the face of it, 2011 was a good year for both of them, certainly in terms of gaining new subscribers for their pay-TV services. However, there’s no escaping the fact that the companies’ financial performance last year left much to be desired.
The real story here is arguably that, according to TVN’s CEO Markus Tellenbach, TPSA may be interested in buying into the DTH platforms Cyfra+ and n once they have merged. Some analysts now also believe that the deal between the platforms’ owners has been significantly overpriced.
Deutsche Telekom has a strong presence in the region and the companies it backs tend to report their results separately. The latest to do so is the Croatian incumbent T-HT, which also gained pay-TV subscribers despite a less than satisfactory financial performance in 2011. In its case, the interesting thing to note is that sees potential growth in both the DTH and broadband sectors, which is perhaps an indication that the IPTV market in Croatia is now nearing saturation.
Modern Times Group (MTG) has meanwhile noted impressive growth in Viasat’s pay-TV operations in what it describes as its emerging markets. Although it also notes that growth has been particularly strong in Russia (Raduga TV) and Ukraine (Viasat Ukraine), the company unfortunately does not provide figures on specific markets.
The bigger picture, beyond the results reporting, is arguably that real progress is being made by the industry on a number of fronts. In Poland, for instance, UPC Polska is now preparing for the launch of Horizon, while Russia is attracting interest from both Hulu and Netflix.
Despite the economic uncertainty now enveloping much of Europe, CEE’s TV industry, at least, can look forward to the future with some degree of confidence.
