The Croatian regulator HAKOM has approved the take-over of HP Produkcija, the operator of the pay-DTT service evotv, by Hrvatski Telekom (HT).
In a statement, HT says that as part of the decision certain measures have been defined with the aim to eliminate potential negative effects of the transaction on market competition.
Expanding on these and quoting Sinisa Duranovic, senior VP of HT, Poslovni reports that they were proposed by HT itself “because our goal is to keep evotv users, offer them better service and continue to develop EvoTV”.
The conditions are that HT will not close EvoTV until its licence expires in October 2021. It has also undertaken to apply for a licence to continue the operation of EvoTV as though it would hold HP Produkcija in that period as a separate legal entity. Finally, in the next 18 months HT will not sell evotv’s fixed-line package cheaper than anyone could buy it on its own.
Duranovic added that although evotv has never been profitable, TV is HT’s core business and with its purchasing power to acquire TV programme rights and its expertise in developing, supporting and selling such services the telco can repair evotv‘s financial condition.
As previously reported by Broadband TV News, evotv’s sale was first announced in November 2018.
HAKOM subsequently asked for additional facts on the deal amid concerns it could have a significant impact on the market.
