We are only a few days away from the launch of two quite unique international channels.
On February 1, the Czech Republic and Slovakia’s leading broadcasters, Nova and Markiza – both of which, incidentally, are owned by Central European Media Enterprises (CME) – will give debuts to services effectively targeting each other’s audiences.
The uniqueness of Nova and Markiza International will reflect the close nature of the relationship between the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which were of course one country prior to an amicable split in 1993. Culturally and linguistically similar, there is also already considerable overlap between their TV industries. Both, for instance, count Skylink and UPC as their leading respective DTH and cable operators.
Given that programming from Nova is viewed in Slovakia and Markiza’s in the Czech Republic, it makes perfect sense to create new channels, offering completely licensed content, for each other’s territories.
However, Nova and Markiza International are likely to be ‘one offs’ in what is a growing international TV channel sector. Just a few days ago, Jacek Kurski, the new head of the Polish public broadcaster TVP, announced plans to launch a new channel named Poland24. Unlike its services aimed local and expatriate viewers – a good example is TVP Info, which besides being one of the most popular news-based channels in Poland is available FTA on Hot Bird 12C at 13 degrees East – Poland24 will target foreign viewers, initially in English but soon afterwards probably also in Russian.
It will join a growing list of such channels based in Europe, ranging from RT (the former Russia Today) to Deutsche Welle and France 24, catering solely for foreign audiences. In a way, it is probably surprising that Poland, one of the leading broadcast markets in Central and Eastern Europe, has taken so long to launch such a service.
