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CEE TV industry news stories

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Chris Dziadul, January 16, 2025
 
 
Polish video viewing headed by Warner Bros. Discovery

Warner Bros. Discovery has the largest audience share amongst video content distributors in Poland, according to Nielsen’s first-ever All Screens Video Landscape report. The report, for 2024, covered viewing from four screens – TVs, PC/laptops, smartphones and tablets – and shows that Warner Bros. Discovery had a 19.5% share (combination of total reach and time spent) in the video content source category. It was closely followed by TVP (18.4%) and Polsat (18.2%), with Google, the owner of YouTube (6.4%) in fourth place. Looking at other global players, Meta (Facebook and Instagram) was 7th, Netflix 9th and ByteDance (TikTok) 10th. Significantly, the TV screen was the most popular way of viewing, in the case of Netflix accounting for 80% of the total. The exceptions were YouTube, Meta and TikTok, which were mostly viewed on other screens.

 
Netflix widens reach in Latvia

Telia Group’s Latvian operator Tet has made Netflix more readily available to its subscribers. Under the terms of an agreement between the two parties, Tet will now allow its viewers to buy Tet TV together with Netflix in one TV content package, instead of subscribing to them separately. Three new subscriptions are also being added to Tet's TV line-up, which includes Netflix, Tet Movies and TV series, Tet original content, top TV channels, HBO offerings and more. Tet TV+ currently offers viewers more than 14,000 hours of rich content, including over than 4,000 TV series, TV shows and movies for different tastes and interests. The Latvian Netflix catalogue has more than 7,400 movies and TV series.

 
Hungarian trade body gains new members

Atmedia and RTL Saleshouse have joined the Hungarian Electronic Broadcasting Association (MEME). Although they became members at the end of 2024, the move was only announced on January 15 in a joint statement published in the local media. Atmedia’s clients include MTVA, TV2 and Network4 Media Group, while RTL Saleshouse represents, amongst others, RTL Hungary and AMC Networks and Antenna Group channels.

 
Vivacom expands Eon offer

United Group’s Bulgarian subsidiary Vivacom has added 20 channels to its advanced TV platform Eon. They cover genres such as news, sports, documentaries, music, children's and hobbies and include the documentary channel Viasat True Crime HD, which is being broadcast for the first time in Bulgaria. Vivacom has also launched a proprietary channel named Hunting and Fishing Club, offering 100% local content. Eon’s most comprehensive package now includes over 225 TV channels.

 
4iG partners with Ericsson

The leading Hungarian and Western Balkans ICT company 4iG Group has entered a partnership with Ericsson to develop a future 5G network in Albania. The upcoming infrastructure investment, valued at €50 million, is based on 5G frequencies recently acquired by One Albania, a subsidiary of 4iG, for €5.4 million.

 
Baltics deal for United Media

United Media has announced a new partnership with Go3, the leading streaming platform in the Baltics. It covers two of its newest crime series – The Scarab from Greece and The Demon’s Fall from Bulgaria – which will now be made available to Go3 subscribers in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

 
Russian streamer launches in Belarus

The Belarusian incumbent telco Beltelecom has signed an agreement with Wink, one of Russia’s leading streaming services. As a result, Beltelecom subscribers now have access to more than 35,000 films and series in the Wink library. Wink is a joint venture between Rostelecom and National Media Group (NMG) and currently has 11.7 million subscribers in its home market.

 
Kyivstar set for Nasdaq listing

The global digital operator Veon has signed a letter of intent with Cohen Circle Acquisition Corp. to enter into a business agreement with the aim of listing Kyivstar on the Nasdaq Stock Market in the US. Kyivstar is owned by Veon and leading provider of digital services in Ukraine. Completion of the transaction would make Kyivstar the first purely Ukrainian investment opportunity to be publicly listed on an U.S. stock exchange. In a separate development, Kyivstar’s streaming service Kyivstar TV, which it jointly owns with 1+1 Media, can now be received on Xbox game consoles. Kyivstar TV offers viewers over 430 TV channels and a VOD library of 20,000 films, TV series, cartoons and shows.

 
Gazprom-Media promotes Boris Khanchalyan

Boris Khanchalyan has been appointed deputy CEO at Russia’s Gazprom-Media (GPM). In his new role, he will be responsible for international partnerships, oversee the production and distribution of content of the GPM KIT group of companies, and develop new promising projects. Khanchalyan was previously an advisor to the CEO of Gazprom-Media Holding and held the position of deputy CEO of GPM RTV.

 
Latvian public broadcasting restructured

Latvian Radio and Latvian Television have been merged to form a single entity named Latvian Public Service media. It will be managed by a board composed of five members and chaired by Baiba Zūzena. The other board members are Ieva Aile, Inese Tanne, Ilze Ogle and Ingemārs Vekteris.  Zūzena brings more than 20 years of experience in strategic management, organisational and business development. Her extensive knowledge and skills in the media industry were gained during 10 years of managing the TV3 Group in Latvia and implementing strategic transformation projects, including several mergers.

 
 
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© Chris Dziadul, 2025
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