The Bulgarian Communications Regulation Commission (CRC) is reported to have approved general conditions for the use of the incumbent telco BTC’s duct infrastructure. Although the two parties have confirmed that operators will be charged BGN0.20 (€0.10) per metre for cables installed in BTC’s duct system, the general conditions have not been made public and will […]
Polish ad spend rises
According to data produced by Starlink, Poland’s ad market was worth PLN1.3 billion (€346.1 million) in Q1 2007, as opposed to PLN1.15 billion in the corresponding quarter in 2006. The greatest growth was noted in the Internet sector (+54.4%), followed by TV (+13.4%) and cinema (+12.4%), while newspapers posted the lowest total (+0.9%). Starlink points […]
Latens CA, Tandberg MPEG 4, for Multimedia
Multimedia Polska is to use conditional access from Latens Systems for its recently launched digital cable operation. The MSO launched Poland’s first IPTV platform in May 2006 and last week started offering digital cable TV services, initially in three cities. It will now employ a unified conditional access head-end to secure both its digital cable […]
More Disney for Poland
Disney Channel has secured a second cable distribution deal in Poland. Already offered by Aster, it will from his month also be carried by Vectra, the country’s second largest MSO. Disney Channel made its debut in Poland in December 2006 and is in addition distributed by the DTH platforms Cyfra+ and Cyfrowy Polsat. All told, […]
ADT appeals to CME owner
The Czech Digital Televisions Association (ADT) is reported to have written an open letter to Ronald Lauder, the founder and owner of the US investment company CME, asking for his support for the digitalisation of TV services in the Czech Republic. CME owns TV Nova, the country’s most popular broadcaster, which last year successful campaigned […]
Widevine strikes Latvian deal
The incumbent Latvian telco Lattelecom has opted for downloadable conditional access and a DRM solution from Widevine Technologies for its new IPTV platform. Launched in April, it is the first in the Baltic Republics to employ MPEG-4 compression to offer its subscribers HDTV and VOD services. Other technology partners include Optibase, Orca, BitBand and Kreatel.
Russian Tricolor receiver correction
According to a statement released by Eutelsat, Digi Raum and not General Satellite, as previously stated, are developing the decoders used to access the Tricolor TV DTH package in Russia. Earlier this week it was announced that Tricolor TV has launched 12 pay-TV channels on Eutelsat’s W4 satellite.
UPC posts mixed results
UPC Broadband has posted a mixed set of results for Q1 2007, with growth in broadband Internet access and telephony strong in most markets but digital TV and DTH operations performing more modestly. In the DTH sector, where UPC Direct faces growing competition from the Romanian-owned platform Digi TV, the number of subscribers in both […]
New e-com law for Bulgaria
Bulgaria has passed a new electronic communications act. According to local reports, the new legislation, which will come into effect in 2008, has already been criticised for favouring the incumbent telco BTC by restricting alternating operators’ access to the last mile. The legislators are also understood to have refused a request by the Society for […]
Hungarian ADSL take-up grows
The incumbent Hungarian telco Magyar Telekom ended the first quarter with 551,129 ADSL connections, or 48.8% more than 12 months earlier. As of March 31 this year 67,381 of its 413,436 cable subscribers had broadband Internet access, while the total number of broadband Internet access customers stood at 628,281, or 55.7% more than 12 months […]