Some markets in Central and Eastern Europe are unlikely to see Liberty Global’s Horizon TV product before 2016 at the earliest.
In its latest annual report, the company says: “ we intend to expand the availability of Horizon TV to other markets within our footprint, with launches planned in Ireland and Germany during 2013 and in certain additional markets during 2014 and 2015”.
Horizon TV made its debut last autumn in the Netherlands and has since also been introduced in Switzerland.
The most recent figures from Liberty, released on May 7, put its take-up as over 200,000, of who more than 145,000 are in the Netherlands and over 55,000 in Switzerland.
If Liberty sticks to its timetable, the only West European market, excluding the UK, without Horizon TV at the end of this year will be Austria.
In CEE, Liberty is present in Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania, and Horizon trials are understood to have already got under way in at least one market (Poland).
Separately, in its annual report Liberty also refers to aggressive competition it is facing from RCS&RDS’s Digi TV Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania.
However, we now know that the Romanian company has pulled out of Slovakia, selling its interests to Slovak Telekom, and its position in the Czech Republic looks tenuous.
Liberty also talks about the increased competition it is facing from DTT providers in CEE, where subscribers tend to be more price sensitive than in other European markets.
In the Czech Republic, for instance, also 100% of the country can receive DTT for free or a comprehensive satellite service for a minimal reoccurring monthly fee.
