Martin Ornass-Kubacki, VP and chief regional officer of SES in CEE, looks at the possibility of more DTH platforms in Poland.
During the last 10 years we have observed the rapid growth of DTH platforms in the CEE region. We now, for instance, have five in Romania, six in Slovakia, four in the Czech Republic, four in Hungary and more than one or two in several other countries.
The majority of these platforms use various satellite operators/orbital positions, though I would prefer them all, for obvious reasons, to only chose SES Astra.
Clearly, competition is healthy and means that the end consumer has a real choice, being offered pay-TV on very attractive terms and conditions.
However, there is an exception to all this – Poland, the fifth biggest market in Europe. It has for years actually had just two regular DTH platforms, operating from a single orbital position. What is more, their programme offers and prices differ little.
Anyone who operates in various DTH markets will be surprised that one with close to 13.5 million households does not indeed have a third or even fourth platform. Their surprise will be compounded by the fact that Poland was the first market in CEE to launch a DTH platform, with Wizja TV, operated via Astra at 19.2 degrees East, making in debut in 1997.
What is more, each time there was any attempt to enter the market with a new platform the local view was that there was no more space, the market exhausted, a lot of cable TV and DVB-T too well developed, etc.
But personally I don’t believe in these arguments; I can take them into account but at the same time find them difficult to defend, given the situation in other, much smaller ones such as those mentioned earlier.
I can cite the example of Romania, where several DTH platforms are succeeding in a market in which pay-TV penetration stands at 87%, a figure higher than that in Poland. Orange, one of those platforms and the most recent to launch, had the courage to enter the market and is now enjoying real commercial success after a very short time.
Another good example is Skylink, which operates in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Although both countries have several DTH platforms, it has been able to secure a total of over 2 million subscribers in markets far smaller than Poland.
So what is the secret of their success? A number of points are absolutely crucial: having the right, preferably unique, content offer, different from the competition; the right orbital position and technically high performing satellite; a satellite operator which supports its clients on the marketing and sales side on a daily basis; professional customer care; and right distribution.
Moreover, it looks like a mix of DTH/OTT is the right solution – after the motto “TV everywhere” (according to our observation just OTT standing alone is less successful than a mix of both DTH/OTT).
Only if these elements are in place will an operator be successful in a highly competitive market.
To summarise, I personally believe there is and will for a while be space for a new DTH venture in Poland. I am also confident that end consumers who are interested in a variety of programming and different propositions and prices will, with a time, force changes in the Polish DTH environment. Indeed, the market abhors a vacuum.
