DTT makes progress in Poland and Slovakia

By
Andrew Katolo

December 19, 2011

Poland's digital terrestrial television (DTT) multiplex 1 officially launched on 15 December with initial coverage of 15 per cent of the country's 14.5m homes. The multiplex is broadcasting three channels from public broadcaster, TVP, and two private stations Polo TV and Eska TV. Two more private channels, TTV and ATM Rozrywka, are expected to launch shortly. By the end of May 2012, coverage of multiplex 1 is planned to reach 92 per cent, and by September 2012, 95 per cent of homes.

Unofficially, multiplex 1 launched in 2009 with private channels TVN, Polsat, Puls TV and TV4. TVP, whose three channels were by that time scheduled to launch on multiplex 1, failed to fulfil the required tendering procedure and for that reason the operator, TP Emitel, was not formally awarded with a DTT licence by the regulator. Since 2010, TVP has been broadcasting on multiplex 3, which has been allocated in its entirety to the public broadcaster. The multiplex is currently broadcasting six TVP channels. Its coverage has been limited (at the moment, 20 per cent of homes).

TVN, Polsat, Puls TV and TV4, each awarded with licences for two DTT channels, moved from multiplex 1 to multiplex 2, which covers over 85 per cent of homes and is broadcasting eight channels (the others being Polsat Sport News, TVN 7, TV6, and Puls 2). Analogue switch-off (ASO) is scheduled in Poland for July 2013. Multiplex 3 will reach 98 per cent of homes by April 2014 and TVP channels will stop broadcasting on multiplex 1. There will then be a tender for the capacity vacated by the TVP channels on multiplex 1.

Slovak transmission company Towercom meanwhile won a tender to operate the country's multiplex 4. Towercom already has licences for Slovakia's multiplexes 1-3 and it is broadcasting public channels Jednotka and Dvojka, as well as commercial stations Markiza, TV Doma (both owned by CME), TV JOJ and JOJ Plus.

Under its licence, Towercom has to launch multiplex 4 by the end of August 2012 with a minimum coverage 46.5 per cent of homes. The multiplex' coverage will be then extended to 61 per cent of households by the end of 2012. Towercom may launch in MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 compression format and it does not exclude the possibility of launching pay channels on multiplex 4. Currently only commercial stations are still broadcasting on analogue terrestrial in the country.

Both countries are trying to make up for the relatively late launch of DTT; Poland seems, however, to be lagging behind. Multiplexes 2 and 3 in Slovakia already cover just under 100 per cent of homes each. In Poland, the coverage of multiplex 2 will exceed 90 per cent of homes at the end of December 2011, but multiplex 1 will not reach over 90 per cent of homes before May 2012. On the other hand, there are now 16 channels available on DTT in Poland and only six in Slovakia. Still, the DTT channel line-up in Poland is crowded with generalist, entertainment and music channels; there is neither film, nor children's, nor sport channels (only Polsat Sport News). Moreover, no more DTT frequencies will be available in Poland before ASO.

The only new channel may come from TVP on multiplex 3 (which covers less than 30 per cent of homes). Even in this case it remains unlikely that TVP will launch its sport channel, TVP Sport, which is positioned as a pay TV channel.

Similarly in Slovakia, most DTT channels are generalist formats. As a well balanced channel line-up is crucial for the platform's success, especially if there are plans to launch pay DTT, Towercom should be now expected to sign deals with thematic channels, including primarily sport and movies. Regarding the broadcasting format, all the DTT channels in Slovakia are currently broadcasting in MPEG-2, although Towercom is technically ready to apply MPEG-4 compression, which would permit more channels to be carried, including pay TV. Towercom may use the DVB-T2 standard, which it has recently been testing.

A better-balanced pay DTT channel line-up can be found in neighbouring Hungary. The DTT service, called MinDig Extra, found success in 2010 after rebranding and expanding to 10 channels (on top of seven free-to-air channels), including sport (SportKlub), movies (Film Plus), adult (Private Spice), documentary (National Geographic) and children's (Disney) channels. In October 2011, MinDig Extra added a package of 12 pay TV channels, and one premium channel, HBO. In spite of very high multichannel penetration (90 per cent of homes already in 2009) and a very tough competition, in November 2011, IHS Screen Digest estimates that DTT was watched by about 10 per cent of total Hungarian homes, with 42,000 reported by MiniDig to be receiving pay DTT services.)

Tags:

Countries: Poland Slovakia
Companies: Emitel Towercom TVP CME MinDig