While not exactly dominating the agenda in Poland’s TV industry, the DTH platform Cyfrowy Polsat is certainly having a huge say.
Just in the last few days we have seen it make a number of important announcements, the most eye-catching of which relate to its plans to launch a mobile TV service in the second quarter. Employing the country’s fourth DTT multiplex, which is operated by its subsidiary Info TV FM, it will initially offer viewers eight TV and 12 radio stations for a monthly fee likely to be in the region of PLN20 (€4.8).
However, there are still question marks as to what other services TV MOBILNA might provide, with some reports saying that they will not include premium TV channels. They should nevertheless in due course include the online video service ipla and reception will be possible via such mobile devices as smartphones and tablets.
The highly successful ipla, which currently offers over 20 TV channels and thousands of clips to some 1.4 million users, has itself been in the news this week, with Cyfrowy Polsat acquiring a 100% stake in the company for PLN150 million. Up until now it had been operated by Redefine, a company backed by Cyfrowy Polsat/Polsat founder and owner Zygmunt Solorz-Zak.
In other important developments, it has been announced that Cyfrowy Polsat has entered into an agreement with Polkomtel, the operator of the mobile network Plus. Polkomtel was acquired by Solorz-Zak last year in a deal worth PLN18 billion and the two companies will now sell their subscribers each other’s basic products, including, of course, TV services.
Cyfrowy Polsat president Dominik Libicki also made clear in an interview with the local media that the company currently has no plans to invest in 3D production, describing the technology as still being in its infancy and unlikely to be as revolutionary as HD has been.
All these developments came alongside the release of Q4 and full year results. Though generally positive, they showed annual subscriber growth of only 3.4% – still significant, though perhaps also an indication that the pay-TV market in Poland is now approaching saturation.
Stay tuned for more interesting announcements from one of CEE’s most dynamic TV markets.
