The agreement between Liberty Global and CME, though focused on Romania, is significant on many levels.
Both companies are hugely important in the general scheme of things in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), with Liberty Global (UPC) being the region’s leading cable operator and CME the largest commercial broadcaster. Given that they have been active there for nearly two decades, it is only surprising that they have not worked more closely together before.
What has brought them together on this occasion – at least in Romania, though other markets may follow – is of course the on demand service Voyo. Launched by CME in the Czech Republic at the beginning of last year and subsequently rolled out to its five other markets, it was initially free (except in Slovenia) but has since become subscription-based.
Voyo has very much captured the mood in CEE, where VOD services are growing rapidly in popularity, especially in such larger markers as Poland (ipla and TVN Player, to name but two) and Russia (which both Netflix and Hulu were earlier this year reported to be interested in entering).
Despite facing competition in some if not all the markets it is present in – in Romania, for instance, Romtelecom, RCS&RDS and the Antena Group all include on demand in their offers – Voyo has become well established. The latest set of results, published only a few days ago by CME, showed that it had a total of 78,000 customers in its six markets the end of Q2, making it a leader in the subscription on demand (SVOD) sector in CEE.
Voyo has also become something of a cash cow for CME, helping boost the revenues of its New Media division and the company’s profits as a whole. As such, it is likely to play an increasingly important role in the company’s future.
Meanwhile for UPC in Romania, Voyo seems like the perfect addition to what is already a comprehensive offer. It may also just give the operator that extra edge in its competitive struggle with Romtelecom and RCS&RDS.
