The provision of on demand services is becoming increasingly important for broadcasters in Central and Eastern Europe.
Take Poland’s TVP, which has since the beginning of this year undergone something of a transformation, much of it controversial and politically driven by the new government. It has taken the decision – a sound one, many would argue – to withdraw its proprietary on demand content from services operated by competitors once current contracts expire and offer it solely on its own platform vod.tvp.pl.
Furthermore, as was announced earlier this week, it will be seizing the opportunity of the upcoming Rio Olympic Games this summer to provide extensive coverage of the event on vod.tvp.pl. In effect, it will allow viewers with online access in any location the opportunity to watch the widest possible variety of sports on the devices of their choice. This will be supplemented by an interactive library of video clips from the Games, along with extensive coverage on such social media as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
While this will hardly be revolutionary, and indeed probably replicated by many other broadcasters around the world this summer, it will certainly be an important milestone for TVP and Poland as a whole.
Looking elsewhere in the region, we learned earlier this week that Skylink, the most popular DTH platform in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia, has moved a step closer to launching its on demand service. Though unconfirmed, it looks as if the company will be working with Banaxi, which already is present in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary and has worked with Germany’s NetRange since 2013.
Although Skylink’s plan to offer its subscribers VOD has been known for some time, it has been held up from launching a service before other members of the M7 Group, located in Benelux, do so with theirs. Now, it seems likely the Skylink one will make its debut by the end of June.
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