Polsat has come a long way since in the early 1990s, when it made its debut as one of the first national commercial TV stations in CEE.
Uplinked initially out of the Netherlands in order to stay within the law – Poland at that stage was still without broadcast legislation – its first big breakthrough came when it received a terrestrial licence. By the middle of the decade, it found itself competing in a market also served by the public broadcaster TVP and a new rival national commercial station named TVN – essentially the situation that still exists today, though in a much larger, more complex and mature market.
Zygmunt Solorz-Zak, Polsat’s founder and owner, was quick to see the potential of operating a DTH platform and launched Cyfrowy Polsat in the late 1990s. At first, it was a basic, cheap and cheerful service targeting the lower end of the market, unlike its main competitor, operated by Canal+. This, however, allowed the platform to build up a large customer base and it still has significantly more subscribers (1.3 million, to be precise) today than nc+, the platform formed by the merger of n and Cyfra+ earlier this year.
However, Cyfrowy Polsat is much, much more than a DTH platform. Restructuring a few years ago effectively transformed it into a holding company that now owns Polsat, previously its parent company. Its other interests include 23 thematic channels, four of which are in HD, and ipla, the most popular online on demand service in Poland.
Cyfrowy Polsat’s DTH operation is meanwhile completely different to that in its early years: sophisticated and with an offer that includes PPV,VOD home video rental, TV online and catch-up TV services, along with mobile TV, employing DVB-T technology.
Solorz-Zak has been transforming the business, basing his belief in LTE technology and the internet in general. His latest ‘coup’ is to effectively merge Cyfrowy Polsat and Polkomtel, the operator of Poland’s leading mobile operator Plus, into a single operation that will effectively become one of the largest companies in Poland and leading media and telecom group in the region.
Predicting what happens next is far from easy. However, what is almost certain is that Solorz-Zak’s Cyfrowy Polsat will continue to set the agenda, operating on a pro rather than reactive basis, in its home market.
Establishing a presence in other CEE markets is also a possibility.
