The Polish public broadcaster TVP has posted a gross profit of PLN144.4 million (€35 million) for the first half of this year, or PLN28.2 million more than in the corresponding period in 2014.
The improvement, says the company, was down to both higher revenue from sales and cost reductions.
However, TVP also notes that the funds it received from receiver licence fees in H1 was, at PLN277.6 million, lower than planned and down PLN19.9 million on the 2014 half year total. This was down to both the lack of comprehensive legislation governing the funding of public service broadcasting and the National Broadcasting Council’s (KRRiT’s) decision to reduce the amount received by TVP.
Although TVP’s revenues from sponsorship and advertising were PLN12.6 million higher than planned, they were still PLN19.3 million lower than in H1 2014. This could be explained by the major sporting events (Sochi Winter Olympics and World Cup in Brazil) that took place last year.
Although the latter benefitted TVP’s viewing figures in H1 2014, they were also considerably higher than those of its main commercial rivals Polsat and TVN in H1 this year. All three operate a number of channels and the combined share of TVP’s was 31.6%, or 45% more than those of Polsat’s and 60% more than TVN’s.
