Digital Cable in Central and East Europe
Broadband TV News, May 2009, Pages: 39
The cable industry in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is well established, providing services to between 30-35 million homes across the region.
However, it is also an industry under intense pressure from competing platforms. Cable’s response to the growing competition from DTH and IPTV has been to consolidate and invest heavily in upgrading its infrastructure. This is finally starting to bear fruit as more and more operators roll out such additional services as digital TV, VOD and HD channels.
Although this appears very much like a game of ‘catch-up’ in some markets, with such services having been first introduced by DTH platforms (HD in the case of Poland’s n and Russia’s NTV-Plus), leading players such as Liberty Global’s UPC are in the vanguard of new service offerings. Its digital cable services were already received in 300,000 homes in the Czech Republic in Q1 2009, along with over 150,000 in Romania and 100,000 in Poland. If present trends continue, up to 1 million UPC cable homes in CEE could be subscribing to digital cable by the end of 2009.
This report, which is part of the Broadband TV News Briefing Series, looks at the cable industries of the 14 largest markets in CEE. Besides providing an up-to-date overview of each market, it also includes detailed sections on the key players, where they currently stand in the digitalisation process and their plans for the future.
As such, it should provide a useful reference tool for anyone interested in the digital cable sector in CEE and the opportunities it offers.
- Understand the structure and strategies of the region’s cable operators
- Assess the prospects of the main cable players against other powerful operators
- Evaluate the technologies and services that are delivering new subscribers, reducing churn and increasing revenues
- Examine each of the competitors in every major CEE market and their plans
Market Overview:
Baltkom and Izzi, formerly known as Telia Multicom, have dominated Latvia’s cable industry for a number of years. Baltkom was the first operator in the country to introduce triple play, and has since – like Izzi – gone on to become a quadruple play company.
Baltkom, though not Izzi, participated in a DTT tender that was ultimately won by the incumbent telco Lattelecom in January 2009.
Latvia’s cable industry also received a shock in the same month when the VAT on cable service was increased from 18% to 21%. The VAT on goods and services in general was meanwhile increased from 18% to 21%, and as a result operators were forced to raise their subscription fees.
As of Q1 2009, operators were also involved in a dispute with Viasat Broadcasting over the latter’s plans to impose of fee for the distribution of TV3, which had previously been available free of charge.
Author: Chris Dziadul
INTRODUCTION
RECENT MARKET DEVELOPMENTS
TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW
BULGARIA
- MARKET OVERVIEW
- KEY PLAYERS
- CableTEL
- Eurocom Cable
CROATIA
- MARKET OVERVIEW
- KEY PLAYERS
- B.net
- Others
CZECH REPUBLIC
- KEY PLAYERS
- UPC
- Nej-TV
- Others
ESTONIA
- KEY PLAYERS
- Starman
- STV
- Elion
HUNGARY
- MARKET OVERVIEW
- KEY PLAYERS
- T-Kábel
- FiberNet
- Digi
LATVIA
- MARKET OVERVIEW
- KEY PLAYERS
- Baltkom
- Izzi
LITHUANIA
- MARKET OVERVIEW
- KEY PLAYERS
- Balticum
- Others
POLAND
- MARKET OVERVIEW
- KEY PLAYERS
- UPC
- Vectra
- Multimedia Polska
- Aster
- Toya
- Others
ROMANIA
- MARKET OVERVIEW
- KEY PLAYERS
- UPC
- RCS/RDS
- Others
RUSSIA
- MARKET OVERVIEW
- KEY PLAYERS
- NTK
- Akado
- Others
SERBIA
- MARKET OVERVIEW
- KEY PLAYERS
- Serbia Broadband
SLOVAKIA
- MARKET OVERVIEW
- KEY PLAYERS
- UPC
- Satro
SLOVENIA
- MARKET OVERVIEW
- KEY PLAYERS
- UPC
UKRAINE
- MARKET OVERVIEW
- KEY PLAYERS
- Voila
LIST OF TABLES
- All countries start with ‘At a Glance’ data table
- Estonian Digital TV Take-up
- Hungarian Cable Internet Take-up
- UPC Digital Subscriber Progress – Hungary
- Lithuanian Cable TV and MMDS Subscribers
- Lithuanian Cable TV and MMDS Subscribers – By City
- Poland Digital Subscriber Progress
- Romanian Internet Subs
- Romanian Internet Sub Additions 2008
- UPC Digital Subscriber Progress – Romania
- Russian Non-terrestrial TV Structure
- Revenues
- Top 5 Russian Digital TV Operators
- Serbia – Cable Households
- Serbia – Cable Geographical Breakdown
- UPC Digital Subscriber Progress – Slovakia
- UPC Digital Subscriber Progress – Slovenia
- Currency Convertor
Chris Dziadul is a leading writer on Central and East European broadcasting. A graduate of the University of Westminster’s Faculty of Communication, he has specialised in the subject since the late 1980s.
Aside from editing some of the most highly regarded annual publications in the broadcast industry, he has contributed regularly to a number of titles and launched TV East Europe, the first ever publication dedicated solely to developments in Central and East Europe’s television industry. More recently, he has also edited Cable Europe and written several management reports on the broadcast industry.
Chris is currently an Editorial Director and the Chief East European analyst at Broadband TV News. Besides editing Broadband TV News: Central and East Europe and being the associate editor of New Television Insider, he has written market reports on Poland, the Czech Republic/Slovakia and Russia.
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