CEE TV industry news stories

Chris Dziadul, June 6, 2024

 

STC eyeing United Group

Saudi Arabia’s STC is reportedly preparing to make an offer for United Group. According to Reuters, quoting three unnamed sources, talks are still at an early stage. It adds that a deal could value the company, which is the leading provider of multiplay services in Southeast Europe, at around €8 billion. United Group has been majority owned by BC Partners since 2019 and it may undertake the sale by splitting it into different regions in order to maximise its value. Significantly, United Group competed the sale of its tower unit in Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania to the STC subsidiary TAWAL in August 2023.

 

Netflix provides CEE insights

Most of Netflix’s licensing and commissioning efforts in CEE are currently focused on Poland, though the company is also increasingly active in other markets across the region. Speaking at Content Warsaw, Michael Azzolino, VP of content for CEE and Lukasz Kluskiewicz, director of films and content acquisition, Netflix, said that while content can travel outside its home market in CEE, it needs to firstly appeal and be relevant to audiences in that market. Asked about Ukraine, they said that there is a substantial audience in the country and the creative community is still producing content. It is one of Netflix’s priority countries and the company is both licensing and co-financing there.

 

Player gains in Max-ready Poland

The average daily viewing time on connected TVs for the Polish streaming service Player grew 1.5 hours in 2021 to 2 hours this year. Speaking at Content Warsaw, Katarzyna Drogowska, head of AVOD strategy and editorial direction at TVN Warner Bros. Discovery, added that the company’s main focus is currently on the service Max, which launches in Poland on June 11. No decisions have yet been made on any joint subscription models for Max, Player and its other streaming service TVN24 Go. Earlier this week the company announced that Max will be available in three packages in Poland. Starting at PLN19.99 (€4.67) a month, each will include the option of an additional package named Kanaly TV i Sport costing PLN20 a month and containing 29 TV channels and live sport.

 

Fibre milestone for United Group

United Group is set to create the biggest fibre network in Southeast Europe. Following on from the establishment of United Fibre in Greece in 2021, it registered the company in Slovenia in March and will do so in Bulgaria and Croatia by the end of the year. In the four countries alone, United Group already owns 60,000km of backbone and metro network, reaching 3.6 million homes and aiming to deliver 475,000 new FTTH homes in 2024, with a similar pace in following years.

 

Romanian telco market stagnates

Romania’s four leading telcos – Digi, Orange, Telekom Romania Mobile and Vodafone – had total revenues of RON20.1 billion (€4.04 billion) in 2023. This, according to figures released by the country’s Ministry of Finance and published by Ziarul Financiar, was 3.5% more than the previous year. However, their net profit of RON116 million was down by 89% and debts rose by 8% to RON20 billion. They also lost over 1,300 employees, with the total number at the end of 2023 standing at 18,085.

 

TVN Warner Bros. Discovery hires Piotr Wasilewski

Piotr Wasilewski has been appointed group VP – head of legal & corporate affairs management Poland at TVN Warner Bros. Discovery, effective the beginning of June. In his new role, he will be responsible for all legal matters at Warner Bros. Discovery in Poland in the areas of legal regulations, competition law, distribution, sales, commercial contracts, television production and news. He will also work closely with the global litigation, data privacy, ethics & compliance, and employment teams. Wasilewski will report to Alessandra Chichi, group senior VP – legal international at Warner Bros.Discovery.

 

Czech and Slovak debut for BBC First

The premium British drama channel BBC First has been launched in the Czech and Slovak markets. It is being made available to viewers by T-Mobile (Magenta TV) and O2 (O2 TV) in the former and Slovak Telekom (Magio TV) in the latter. The BBC First brand initially appeared in the two countries as an SVOD collection on T-Mobile and Slovak Telekom in November 2023. However, this is the first time it is being offered as a linear channel. The BBC channels BBC Earth and BBC News are also available in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

 

New channel for Slovakia’s Markiza

The Slovak national commercial broadcaster TV Markiza will add a new thematic channel to its portfolio this summer. Known as Markiza Klasik, it will, as its name suggests, show classic TV shows and be distributed by paid cable, satellite and IPTV services. Markiza is part of PPF Group’s Central European Media Enterprises (CME) and celebrates its 28thanniversary this year.

 

Gazprom-Media to launch a single subscription

Russia’s Gazprom-Media will introduce a single subscription for all its digital assets. The move was announced by its deputy DG Sergei Kosinsky and covers the streaming service Premier, video hosting Rutube and vertical video application Yappy. It will come into effect in Q4 of this year and subscription details will be announced later.

 

Orange merger completed

Orange has announced the completion of the merger between Orange Romania (ORO) and Orange Romania Communications (OROC). The resulting integrated converged telco operator, known as Orange Romania, is 80% owned by Orange Group and 20% by Romania’s Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitisation.

 

 

For more information about Chris Dziadul, please go to:

http://www.chrisdziadul.com

 

To register your interest in receiving regular news updates on the TV industry in Central and Eastern Europe, please email:

chrisdziadul@outlook.com

 

© Chris Dziadul, 2024