Competition in Romania’s satellite TV market has gone up a further gear with the launch of a new platform, distributed by Eutelsat from the 16 degrees East neighbourhood.
The platform is named after its operator Freesat, a company based in the city of Oradea, and claims to offer the cheapest deal for viewers in the DTH sector, with an annual subscription of RON99 (€22.8) and a one-off investment in a Viaccess smartcard providing them with Romania’s most popular public and private TV channels.
They include TVR1, TVR2, Pro TV, Acasa TV, ProCinema, Sport.ro, Kanal D, Prima, National TV, Favorit TV, TVR HD, TVR 3, TVR News, TVR International, Etno TV, Taraf TV and West TV.
Viewers, who are required to purchase their own reception equipment, will also be able receive international FTA channels from the 16 degrees East slot and adjacent Hot Bird satellites.
Commenting on the launch, Serban Belenes, general manager of Freesat, said: “Our objective is to give Romanians access to digital television choice at a great price with the highest quality and to reach the maximum number of homes using Eutelsat’s established neighbourhood at 16 degrees East. We believe that Freesat’s proposal of no monthly bill and no commitment is a key asset. With RON99, you have your favourite channels for a full year – no worries, no subscription.”
Jean-François Leprince-Ringuet, CCO at Eutelsat, said: “We welcome the launch of this new platform that will propel digital broadcasting forward in Romania and help prepare the ground for analogue switch-off of the national terrestrial broadcasting network. The performance, coverage and community of Romanian channels make our EUTELSAT 16A satellite a natural choice for Freesat. Broadcasters now have a unique platform for reaching into television homes across Romania and we look forward to sharing our experience in other markets with Freesat to make this new venture a success.”
With the launch of Freesat and Orange Romania, Romania will once again find itself with five DTH platforms. Up until now, the market has been served by Digi TV (RCS&RDS), Focus Sat (UPC) and Dolce TV (Romtelecom).
