Ukraine’s broadcast industry is changing rapidly, with one of the most important upcoming developments being the encryption of satellite TV services.
In an interview with Detector Media published earlier this week, Yaroslav Pakholchuk, the COO/CFO at 1+1 Media, said that Viasat Ukraine currently has and will aim to retain a 50% share of the DTH market following encryption. He also said that he regards the other satellite provider Xtra TV, which is part of Media Group Ukraine, as a partner rather than competitor.
Indeed, there are currently only around 90,000 DTH subscribers in Ukraine and it is important to make decisions that will increase the quantitative and then monetary base of the DTH market as whole.
In Pakholchuk’s view, there are unlikely to be any new entrants into the DTH market, with media groups more focused on launching OTT and IPTV services.
It should be noted here that Ukraine’s DTH market has had a long and chequered past, with at least two platforms – Poverkhnost Plus and MyTV – closing over the years. A summary can be found in this Chris Dziadul Reports column.
More recently, the country’s four leading media groups – StarLightMedia, 1+1 Media, Media Group Ukraine and Inter Media Group – decided to have their satellite TV channels encrypted.
The move was related to the switch-off of analogue terrestrial TV services in Ukraine, which took place in August 2018, and was set to happen six months later.
However, it was then put back to May 2019 and now, following an agreement between the four groups, will be concluded in January 20, 2020.
