No one can doubt the huge advances that have been made by Central and Eastern Europe’s TV industry in recent years, though especially since eight countries in the region joined the EU in May 2004. However, they have been far from uniform, and there is clearly much work that still needs to be done. This […]
More film channels for Poland
The film channels Filmbox and Nonstop Kino will officially make their debuts in Poland this coming Tuesday (April 2). Both services have been available in neighbouring Slovakia and the Czech Republic for around one and a half years and are owned by SPI International, which earlier this month acquired the Polish film channel Kino Polska […]
Czech CT prepares for VOD
The Czech public broadcaster CT has said it is likely to launch a paid-for VOD service within the next six months. Such a service, operating under the name Kinomania, is already provided over the Internet by the national commercial station TV Nova, with movies costing viewers CZK46 (€1.64) a day to watch. CT is understood […]
UK’s WightCable North opts for NDS
The UK cable operator WightCable North has selected NDS VideoGuard Express to replace its existing conditional access platform. WightCable North has a presence in the West of Scotland (Irvine, Troon and Kilmarnock) and North West of England (Carlisle, Lancaster and Morecambe), in the latter case through networks belonging to the former Omne Communications. Linked to […]
Bulgarian BTC attracts more interest
Local reports indicate that the US companies TPG and Warburg Pincus have joined forces to put in a bid for Bulgaria’s incumbent telco BTC. Although Mid-Europa Partners, Turk Telekom and the Turkish mobile operator Turkcell are also known to be interested, doubts have been raised as to whether the US’s Providence Equity Partners still remain […]
Successful year for Poland’s ITI
Poland’s ITI Group has posted better than expected results for 2006. Its consolidated revenues in the year amounted to €355.6 million, as opposed to €264.6 million in 2005, while the operational profit was up from €59.6 million to €115.5 million. Its net consolidated profit meanwhile rose from €23.6 million to €72.1 million. Although ITI Group […]
Liberty unveils digital plans
According to local reports, Liberty Global has announced its UPC operations in Poland and Hungary will start rolling out digital TV services from 2008. They are likely to include HDTV, a PVR product and virtual VOD libraries, with reception equipment supplied by Philips and Thomson. Separately, a draft law to be presented in Poland next […]
Sistema seeks greater say
According to local reports, Sistema has called for the rights of minority shareholders at Russia’s leading telco Svyazinvest to be extended. Sistema’s Comstar acquired 25% plus one share in Svyazinvest for $1.3 billion (€974.7 million) in Q4 2006 and it was widely assumed this would allow it a greater say over the telco’s operational strategy, […]
BTC ready for triple play
The incumbent Bulgarian telco BTC has announced the completion of a Next Generation Transport Network (NGTN) employing Cisco technology that will allow it to offer triple play services. BTC ended 2006 with over 90,000 ADSL subscribers, and its fixed line and Internet customer total now stands at 2.5 million. All told, the company spent BGN345 […]
UPC Czech ups the ante
UPC plans an almost four-fold increase in the Internet access speeds it offers in the Czech Republic from the beginning of April. As a result, they will now start at 2Mbit/s, allowing the company to compete more effectively with ADSL providers such as Telefonica O2. The combined UPC/Karneval operation currently has 200,000 Internet customers, while […]