Chris Dziadul, February 20, 2025
EU to impose more sanctions on Russia
The European Union has agreed what will be the 16th round of sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. Expected to be formally adopted on Monday, February 24 – the third anniversary of the invasion – they will include a ban on eight further Russian media outlets from broadcasting in Europe.
TVN advances its DAI technology
Poland’s TVN Warner Bros. Discovery has made channels with DAI technology available to an external operator in the OTT/TV Everywhere environment for the first time. In the first stage, viewers of the WP Pilot subscription platform gained access to seven channels, namely TVN, TVN7, TTV, Metro, HGTV, TVN Style and TVN Turbo. At the same time, a further 17 channels from TVN Warner Bros. Discovery’s portfolio were added to WP Pilot’s line-up on February 18, bringing the total to 24.
TV still dominant in Czech Republic
Television is the most popular medium in the Czech Republic, with 86% of the population watching it at least once a week in 2024. Moreover, according to Atmedia, 68% of those aged 15+ watched it daily, with their average daily viewing time amounting to 3 hours and 36 minutes. Even so, the latter was less than in the three other Visegrad countries, with Hungary in top spot (5 hours 15 minutes), followed by Poland (4 hours 25 minutes) and Slovakia (3 hours 55 minutes). Atmedia notes that in 2024 average daily viewing time increased by seven minutes year-on-year in Poland. Moreover, Polish viewing figures also include out-of-home, and in January this year these accounted for 10.45% of the total number of GRPs in the target 16-59 age group.
Hrvatski Telekom offers AI licences
The Croatian incumbent Hrvatski Telekom (HT) is giving away 20,000 annual licences to the AI assistant Perplexity Pro. Each valued at €233, they give users access to the most advanced AI models, including Perplexity's internal models, as well as models from DeepSeek, OpenAI, Anthropic, Grok and Gemini. According to HT, the free licences can be accessed via the Moj Telekom app in the Magenta Moments section and are available not just to existing customers but anyone regardless of which operator they use.
TVP secures key UEFA rights
The Polish public broadcaster TVP has secured the rights to UEFA’s U-17 and U-19 men’s and women’s tournaments, as well as European futsal championship, for 2025-2028. According to TVP, this represents another step in enriching its sports offer. It currently shows, amongst others, all matches from the senior men’s and women’s national teams, all matches from the Polish Betclic 1 and 2 Leagues and matches from the Polish Cup. It also broadcast one Ekstraklasa (Polish Premier League) in a given round and one Wednesday match from the UEFA Champions League.
Czech TV updates mobile app
The Czech public broadcaster Ceska Televize (CT) has unveiled a new version of the mobile app of its news channel ČT24. Marking the 20th anniversary of the channel, it brings a modern user interface, new short news section and the ability to add widgets with the main news to the home screen or dark mode. According to Marek Doležel, CT’s director of the digital services division, it follows up on the launch of the redesigned ČT24 website at the end of 2023 and continues to build a unified ecosystem of CT’s digital platforms.
UPL TV now on Megogo
UPL TV, the channel which broadcasts all Ukrainian Premier League matches live, is now available on the Megogo media service. UPL TV was launched in February 2024 by the clubs of the Ukrainian Premier League, broadcasts all UPL matches live and produces its own programmes. It is carried on all leading platforms in Ukraine including Sweet.TV, Kyivstar TV and Setanta Sports (OTT), Viasat (DTH) and Triolan.tv (cable/IPTV).
MWE Networks to challenge Emitel
Poland’s MWE Networks is aiming to launch a new digital terrestrial TV multiplex (MUX-5) later this year that will reach at least 95% of the country. It is one of three companies – the others being the national transmission company Emitel and Cyfrowy Polsat-backed BCAST – that have expressed interest in taking part in a competition to operate MUX-5 organised by the Office of Electronic Communications (UKE). Speaking to the local press, Michał Winnicki, the founder and owner of MWE Networks, said that its goal is to make Polish terrestrial TV broadcasters independent of the foreign-owned Emitel. In his view, the costs Emitel charges are too high and hampering the development of DVB-T/DVB-T2 in the country.
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