CEE TV industry news stories

Chris Dziadul, July 18, 2024

 

 

Netflix TV viewing dips in Poland

Streaming accounted for a slightly smaller TV audience in Poland in June (8.3%) in June compared to the previous month (8.6%). According to Nielsen’s The Gauge, YouTube was the top streaming platform with a 2.1% share of TV screen viewing, while second placed Netflix saw its share fall from 2.2% in May to 1.7% last month. The Gauge notes that Poles watched an average 2 minutes more video content per day in June than in May, spending an average of 3 hours and 34 minutes in front of the TV screen. This increase was put down to Euro 2024, coverage of which dominated Polish programme rankings in June.

 

Russian pressure mounts on Google

The Russian regulator Roskomnadzor has called on Google to restore over 200 pro-government YouTube channels that were blocked following the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. These, according to the news agency TASS, include RT (Russia Today) and the news website RBC. At the same time, the Russian government has reportedly started slowing down YouTube streaming speeds with a view to blocking the service later this year.

 

Poland’s Emitel wins legal battle

The Court of Appeal in Warsaw has dismissed in its entirety an appeal lodged by the Office of Electronic Communications (UKE) against a previous judgement by the Warsaw District Court. Made on June 6, 2023, the latter overturned a decision by the UKE in 2018 that said the wholesale market for the provision of TV and radio services in Poland was uncompetitive and the national transmission company Emitel had significant market power (SMP). The UKE went on to impose a number of regulatory obligations on Emitel. These included opening up its infrastructure to other companies and were appealed against by Emitel.

 

Markiza Klasik debuts in Slovakia

TV Markiza’s newest thematic channel Markiza Klasik officially made its debut on Monday, July 15. Offering classic films and series, it is already being widely distributed in Slovakia, with Slovak Telekom, M7 Group (Skylink, freeSAT), UPC Broadband Slovakia, Orange Slovakia and Digi Slovakia having already added it to their offers. It is also being carried by Antik Telecom, O2 Slovakia, Satro, Slovanet, DSi Data, Martico, 4ka, SledvanieTV and Lepsia TV, as well as dozens of other medium and smaller operators. Negotiations are in addition taking place with the DVB-T operator Towercom about including the channel in its Plustelka pay-DTT service. Following registration, viewers can watch a free SD stream on the website Markiza.sk. Markiza Klasik can also be watched in HD on TV Markiza’s streaming service Voyo.

 

Warner Bros. Discovery partners with Polsat

Polsat Plus Group and Warner Bros. Discovery in Poland have entered into a partnership that will result in subscribers to the platform Polsat Box and users of Polsat Box Go being offered eight temporary Eurosport channels (seven in HD and one in 4K) free of charge during the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris. Warner Bros. Discovery has also reached a similar agreement with Netia, which is part of Polsat Plus Group, that will benefit subscribers of Netia TV. The Olympics will take place from July 16 until August 11.

 

IPTV dominates in Slovenia

IPTV accounted for nearly two-thirds (60.7%) of pay-TV connections in Slovenia at the end of the first quarter. According to the regulator Akos, its market share continues to grow at the expense of other technologies, with cable and satellite falling to 35.3% and 3.8% respectively. Meanwhile, MMDS only had a modest 0.3% share at the end of Q1.

 

Latvian merger in the spotlight

The Latvian incumbent Tet has criticised media reports on a possible future merger with the mobile operator LMT. Both are owned by Sweden’s Telia and the Latvian government is reportedly in negotiations with it about the companies’ future. The Ministry of Finance will report to the government on the talks on October 15. In a statement Tet said: “We would like to remind you that a significant part of the information that is used for making strategic decisions about the future of Tet and LMT is a commercial secret. Therefore, individual sections of the discussion are not and cannot be publicly discussed so as not to reduce the value of both companies until final decisions are made. We condemn the publication of false and unverified news, while supporting the provision of information to both the public and industry associations.”

 

United Group joins Green Coalition

United Group, the leading provider of telecom and media services in Southeast Europe, has officially become a member of the European Green Digital Coalition (EGDC). The EGDC is an initiative of companies which aims to harness the enabling emission-reducing potential of digital solutions to all other sectors. The initiative is supported by the European Commission and the European Parliament. To date, 36 ICT companies have joined the coalition by signing the declaration and meeting the membership criteria. To join the EGDC, a company must be involved in digital transformation, operate in Europe, be committed to greening the ICT sector and meet the membership criteria.

 

Changes at the top at Russian media companies

Sergey Anokhin has been appointed the new CEO of Russia’s VimpelCom, while Alexander Torbakhov will head the company’s board of directors. Both changes will come into effect on September 2.  Anokhin was at Rostelecom for the last seven years, while Torbakhov has been the CEO at VimpelCom since 2020. Separately, Alexander Dunaevsky has replaced Artem Savinovsky as head of Russia’s leading streaming platform Kinopoisk.

 

 

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© Chris Dziadul, 2024