South East Europe is undoubtedly a region with enormous growth potential, especially for satellite operators such as Eutelsat.
Meeting with Apostolos Triantafyllou, its regional VP sales, CE Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia, Commercial Department, earlier this week Broadband TV News was told that it is particularly bullish about the DTH platform Total TV. Already number one in terms of audience share and regional success, not to mention the fact that it is able to offer the same content across multiple technologies, it is likely to expand to new markets in the near future.
Eutelsat of course made headlines at IBC earlier this year when it announced an agreement with Telekom Austria to help develop a white label service. Since then it has been launched in Croatia by Vipnet, one of the telco’s subsidiaries, and it is probably a safe bet to assume that Bulgaria’s M-Tel, also a subsidiary, will soon follow.
Triantafyllou expressed support for the white label concept and said that Eutelsat views it as another success for 16 degrees East, which is now the top position for CEE.
Interestingly, he also provided some details about the new Romanian platform Freesat. Launched in May this year, its debut was largely overshadowed by that of Orange TV, which took place at around the same time.
Triantafyllou said that Freesat has developed into the most cost effective distribution platform for Romanian channels. Indeed, since its launch 6-7 more such channels have been added to the 16 degrees East slot.
Freesat customers buy their own set-top box and can obtain activation cards from distributors in 200 sales points across the country. They are offered mostly Romanian content, enhanced by international FTA channels, and the company is working on simulcrypt solutions with other platforms. Furthermore, tiering of content will at some point be introduced.
Triantafyllou said that HbbTV is on the agenda for some of its clients in the region. Asked about OTT, he referred to it as something of a “spice” and more appropriate to broadcasters. However, Eutelsat certainly monitors OTT and the potential impact it could have on its business.
What is more, there is no business model yet for OTT and it is certainly not seen as a threat.
Triantafyllou also revealed that Eutelsat has been approached by a couple of content companies seeking to launch services in South East Europe, and in particular the Balkans. Their output includes a number of cookery channels.
Eutelsat clearly regards South East Europe as one of its priority markets and Total TV as a success story.
Broadband TV News was left with the impression that there is still much more to come.
