The Bulgarian public broadcaster BNT is currently distributing its channels on the commercial multiplex NURTS Digital rather than Digital First, which was built specifically for the purpose.
Capital reports that this has been the case since the end of 2016, when the national transmission company NURTS terminated the service it provided to Digital First.
Prior to this BNT was understood to be paying up to a quarter of its budget for the use of Digital First.
However, since the switch to NURTS the viewership for BTN services is unofficially estimated to have fallen by 30-35%.
NURTS Digital is operated by NURTS Bulgaria, which is part of the structure of the incumbent telco BTC (Vivacom).
The main commercial channels it distributes terrestrially are bTV, Nova and Bulgaria On Air.
