What has gone wrong for DTH broadcasting in Ukraine?
The news that the country may soon have a new satellite TV platform would in normal circumstances be greeted as very welcome. However, here we have a market that has already seen the demise of three, perhaps four services in only a handful of years – far more than any other in CEE, and most probably Europe as a whole.
In researching this short opinion piece, I looked back on my coverage of the Ukrainian DTH sector over the last few years. It showed that local satellite broadcasting was quite late to arrive in the country – we have to bear in mind that Russia’s NTV-Plus was probably already available when it did – with Viasat Ukraine, Poverkhnost Satellite Communications and Datagroup all preparing to launch platforms as of the beginning of 2008.
We know that Viasat Ukraine subsequently went on to make its debut, as did Poverkhnost’s service Poverkhnost Plus, though the latter then closed. Datagroup, to the best of my knowledge did not, but is now, in 2015, again planning to launch a service.
By mid-2010, there were already four DTH platforms, including MYtv and Russia’s NTV-Plus, operating in the country and it finally looked as though the market was taking off. Indeed, MyTV forecast that by the end of the year there would be up to 3.1 million households receiving satellite TV services.
However, in due course MYtv closed, as did another, short-lived service named Lybid TV. This week I read in the Ukrainian press that a further platform – Xtra TV – had also closed in May, though I see no evidence of this being the case, with its website still appearing to be operating as normal.
DTH has found it difficult to establish a firm foothold in Ukraine for a number of reasons. First is probably the strength of the country’s cable sector, where Volia remains the undisputed market leader.
The second is the success of OTT services, which have really made their presence felt in the country in the last couple of years.
The third is the disruption to the TV market as a whole by the conflict in the east of the country and fourth is the general confusion surrounding the digitisation process, which has undoubtedly had an industry-wide impact.
That is not to say DTH broadcasting has no future in Ukraine. Indeed, far from it. Given the right circumstances, the market should easily be able to support two, possibly three platforms, as is the case in most other countries in CEE.
