Chris Dziadul, March 13, 2025
Tricky start for Czech Republic’s Oneplay
The new Czech streaming service Oneplay, formed by the merger of TV Nova’s Voyo and O2’s O2 TV, has not got off to the best of starts. It has admitted to a series of problems, the most serious of which was a major two-hour outage. Others included problems related to launching selected titles in its library and short-term jamming with some playbacks. In a statement it said “we are aware of all the problems and are gradually solving them. We are sure that we will be able to solve them all in a short time. We have brought something to the market that has not been here before, it is a huge project and complications naturally occurred during its birth.” All told, around half a million have logged into Oneplay each day since its launch on Monday, March 10.
GO3 tops Latvian on demand viewing
One in five (20%) of Latvians watched the subscription on demand (SVOD) service GO3 last year. According to the regulator NEPLP, Netflix (17%) was the second most popular (17%), followed by HBO (9%) and Tet+ (8%). However, among young people Netflix (42%) was in first place, followed by GO3 (40%) and HBO (20%). In the case of free on demand services, the most popular among Latvians was Replay (7%), followed by Delfi TV (5%) and TV3Play (4%). On a daily basis, the most watched on demand services were Tet+ (51% of users). It was followed by LMT Smart TV (49%), Delfi TV (38%), GO3 (34%) and Netflix (29%). NEPLP notes that in 2024 38% of Latvians used audiovisual or VOD services. In the case of VOD services, they were used by 61% of young people.
Polish broadcasters secure TV licences
Poland’s National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT) has renewed TV channel licences held by Wirtualne Polska Media and Telewizja Polsat for a further 10 years. In the former’s case, they relate to the channel WP, which can be distributed terrestrially on MUX-8 or via satellite, and the latter’s the satellite distribution of Polsat Sport Premium 1, Polsat Sport Premium 2, Polsat Doku, Polsat Reality and Polsat X. Separately, speaking in a press conference and quoted by the local media, KRRiT’s head Maciej Świrski said that the regulator has so far this year imposed fines of PLN930,000 (€221.543) on broadcasters, including Polsat and Republika. This compares with PLN283,000 in the whole of last year. He also said that the public broadcaster Telewizja Polska (TVP) is also facing a fine.
OTT grows in Croatia
2024 was a strong year for OTT services in Croatia, with the number of subscribers increasing by 141.9% to 140,035. However, according to the regulator HAKOM, the country’s pay-TV and OTT sector was still dominated by IPTV, which accounted for 49.9% of subscribers. OTT claimed 14.9% after overtaking cable (13.4%), with DTH and pay-DTT accounting for 12.3% and 9.5% respectively. The total number of pay-TV and OTT subscriptions at year’s end stood at 939,283, up 2.6% on 12 months earlier, while revenues in Q4 2024 were 11.6% higher than in the corresponding period a year earlier. HAKOM also notes that investments in telecom infrastructure in Croatia continued to grow in 2024, with operators allocating €412 million, or 11.7% more than the previous year. At the same time, revenues from telecom services grew by 8.5% to €1.87 billion.
Prima+ “most accessible” Czech platform
Prima Group’s prima+ remains the most accessible streaming platform in the Czech market. According to its operator, it has expanded its coverage on smart TVs, has the most favourable price, allows viewing on multiple devices simultaneously and in its third year of broadcasting offers films and series news. Prima+ is available in three packages, with the most expensive costing CZK149 (€5.95) a month, is the most affordable VOD service in the Czech Republic. It made its debut in February 2023.
CME stations secure key certification
The Central European Media Enterprises (CME) stations TV Nova (Czech Republic) and Pro TV (Romania) have become the first broadcasters in the CEE region to achieve top employer certification. Furthermore, Markíza Slovakia, another CME station, initiated the certification process this year with a strong commitment to achieving this recognition in 2026, with other CME markets set to follow.
TV Puls implements HbbTV
The Polish national transmission company Emitel and Telewizja Puls, the country’s third largest commercial broadcaster, have introduced a new functionality to the PlayPlus HbbTV service Puls on demand. It gives viewers access to such advanced features as rewind, timeshift, startover and catchup. According to Dariusz Dąbski, the president Telewizja Puls, the broadcaster will soon be announcing further projects.
Boom time for Slovak productions
Original Slovak productions are the mainstay of stations affiliated to the Association of Television Broadcaster of Slovakia (ATVS). The ATVS notes that domestic titles have higher viewership than foreign ones and that in 2024 the share of own productions of TV Markiza, the country’s leading commercial broadcaster, reached 70% last year. Furthermore, both TV Markíza and its closest competitor JOJ are planning to expand the volume of domestic production and increase investments in its quality.
Kyivstar TV starts original production
Ukraine’s Kyivstar TV has begun work on what will be its first original series. A dramedy named Vitya, it is being produced within the framework of a strategic agreement between Kyivstar TV and FILM.UA and will be an important step in the development of Ukrainian series production for OTT platforms. Vitya is expected to premiere on the Kyivstar TV platform this autumn.
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