The new Ukrainian DTH platform Lybid TV has embarked on the second stage of its launch phase.
This has seen it start to employ a second transponder, which should soon allow the number of channels in its offer to be almost doubled to 55.
Just last week the platform held a press conference in Kiev in which expanded on its strategy over the next few months.
Key to that strategy is that a large number of channels hitherto available in Ukraine FTA on Sirius, Amos and Hot Bird will become encrypted this summer.
Lybid TV’s launch has been a long and convoluted affair, with tests having first got under way on Eutelsat 7 in September 2011.
However, its debut was constantly put back, with “official test broadcasts” only starting on March 29 this year, ahead of what appeared to be a soft launch last month.
Lybid TV is headed by Vyacheslav Mordachov, who was formerly in charge of the leading Russian DTH platform Tricolor TV.