A deal between Liberty Global and Vodafone would undoubtedly have far reaching implications for both companies in Central and Eastern Europe.
However, as Bloomberg reported earlier this week, quoting Liberty’s chairman John Malone, the two groups are having difficulties finding common ground and making such a deal happen. Indeed, he likened the talks they are currently having, first confirmed by Vodafone this summer, to a tennis match where thoughts and ideas are lobbed back and forth rather than formal discussions.
In the meantime, important developments are taking place in other areas of the region’s TV industry. Though not directly impacting on Liberty and Vodafone, they are slowly but surely starting to change the landscape.
Take, for instance, the actions of Telekom Austria. At IBC it was announced that the company had entered into a partnership with Antik Telekom to launch a new DTH platform, using Eutelsat 16A and aimed at both Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
Speaking to Broadband TV News, Telekom Austria said that another launch, similar to the one with Antik Telekom, would be announced by the end of the year. While not revealing what country it would take place in, it added that given the synergies those in what were once in the former Yugoslavia would be possible locations.
Almost single handedly, Telekom Austria is driving far-reaching changes in the region’s DTH market. Of course it is not the only player, and there are significantly larger ones outside its current area of activity (Cyfrowy Polsat in Poland and Tricolor TV in Russia, to name but two), but it seems to be in the vanguard and setting the agenda.
Which brings us back to Liberty and Vodafone. Rather than a merger, they were, and apparently still are, considering an asset swap of some kind. If a deal is eventually reached, it will be interesting to see how it would impact on the region, where Liberty is present in five markets, three of which Vodafone is also directly present in (Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania) and one in which it has a local partner (Plus, in Poland).
