Polish public broadcaster TVP’s decision to stop using Astra’s services from the beginning of next year has come as something of a surprise, not least to the satellite operator itself.
News of the move was first reported by Wirtualne Media earlier this week and confirmed to Broadband TV News by Martin Ornass-Kubacki, the president of Astra Central Eastern Europe. TVP, meanwhile, has yet to respond to our request for a comment/explanation.
TVP’s cooperation with Astra in employing the 19.2 degrees East slot to distribute its channels goes back to 2005, with the current agreement between the two parties due to expire at the and of this year. At first, Jacek Rakowiecki, the spokesman for TVP, said its decision to stop using Astra’s service was being undertaken to eliminate unnecessary costs. However, was then reported as having said that it was to first and foremost improve the reach of its channels TVP Kultura and TVP Historia, which would become encrypted services distributed from the Hot Bird 13 degrees East position.
He added that the financial savings in undertaking this change would be minimal and did not influence TVP’s decision.
Although TVP says its decision is final, Astra remains open to negotiation and clearly does not want to lose the public broadcaster as a customer. Should it do so, it would be left with Telewizja Trwam, with which it signed a 10-year agreement in 2011, as the only Polish broadcaster using the 19.2 degrees position.
Martin Ornass-Kubacki has said Astra is surprised by TVP’s decision, adding that thanks to their distribution from 19.2 degrees channels such as TVP Info, TVP Historia, TVP Kultura and TVP Polonia reach an additional 2.6 million homes in Poland and are basic source of information on developments in Poland to Poles living abroad.
While Rakowiecki questions the 2.6 million figure, Ornass-Kubacki says it comes from an annual survey (Satellite Monitor) undertaken by GfK.
It will be interesting to see if TVP’s decision is indeed final, or if it has a change of heart.
