CEE TV industry news stories
- chrisdz3
- Mar 27
- 4 min read
Chris Dziadul, March 27, 2025
Discovery faces ban in Ukraine
Discovery and other foreign TV channels, including those under the jurisdiction of the US and UK, may soon face a ban in Ukraine for not having a local language soundtrack. According to the Association of Rights Holders and Content Providers (APPK), which has appealed against such a move, the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) may implement a ban if it supports amendments to the second reading of a bill (No 12111) proposed by People’s Deputy of Ukraine Olena Kondratiuk. Significantly, the amendments would also require local OTT services to exclude all films from their catalogues that are not dubbed into Ukrainian.
Executive changes at United Media
Krasimira Hadzhiyska had been appointed the new CEO of Bulgaria’s Nova Broadcasting Group. She has over 22 years of experience within the company, most recently as COO, and will succeed Dirk Gerkens, who will become the chairman of Nova Broadcasting Group and remain a member of the board and director of programming, production, and advertising sales at United Media. Gerkens will continue overseeing the long-term development of Nova Broadcasting Group’s news and current affairs programming. Meanwhile, Vyara Ankova has been appointed the new COO of Nova Broadcasting Group. In her role, she will be responsible for overseeing the overall content strategy across the group’s TV channels and digital platform.
Bundesliga inks CEE deals
Bundesliga has further strengthened its position internationally after Bundesliga International, together with its partner Infront, struck new broadcast deals in nine CEE countries from the 2025-26 season onwards. The agreements, which run until the conclusion of the 2028-29 season, cover Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia (all Setanta), Albania and Kosovo (Tring, exclusively in the Albanian language in the latter), Czech Republic and Slovakia (both Nova Sport), Romania (Digi) and Russia (Okko).
Eutelsat forced to drop Russian channels
The French regulator Arcom has formally ordered Eutelsat to stop broadcasting the Russian channels STS and Kanal 5. Both are controlled by the Russian company National Media Group (NMG), whose financial resources have been frozen in accordance with a European Union Council regulation in 2014 prohibiting the channels’ broadcasting. Arcom notes that since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine it has suspended the broadcasting of several Russian channels including NTV Mir, Rossiya 1, Perviy Kanal and NTV. Its latest decision is the first one it has implemented since a law enacted in May 2024 granted it new powers.
Polish streamer adds key channels
Poland’s leading local streaming service Player has added the channels Polsat and TV4 to its line-up. As a result, it is now offering viewers all the leading terrestrial channels – TVN, Polsat, Czwórka, TV Puls, TVP1, TVP2 and all regional versions of TVP3 – available in the country. Player, which is operated by TVN Warner Bros.Discovery, currently includes 92 live and 20 FAST channels in its line-up. Separately, Polsat Group has announced that Polsat Box Go and the internet TV service Polsat Box are now offering viewers the national commercial channel TVN in HD quality.
Megogo extends Walt Disney deal
The Ukrainian OTT/VOD platform Megogo has extended an agreement with The Walt Disney Company that will allow its subscribers to continue watching the studio’s latest releases, as well as an expanded selection of its feature films and cartoons. The two parties have been cooperating since 2016. Earlier this month, Megogo entered into an exclusive media rights partnership with the UK boxing promotional company BOXXER.
Romania confirms Russian media ban
The Romanian regulator ANCOM has confirmed the prohibition of broadcasting and/or dissemination of 25 Russian media channels. Identified by the Council of the EU and restricted since 2014, with subsequent amendments and completions, they are Russia Today and Sputnik, with all their subsidiaries, RTR Planeta, Russia 24, TV Centre International, NTV Mir, Rossiya 1, REN TV, Pervyi Kanal, Oriental Review, Tsargrad, New Eastern Outlook, Katehon, Voice of Europe, RIA Novosti, Izvestija, Rossiiskaja Gazeta, EADaily/ Eurasia Daily, Fondsk, Lenta, NewsFront, RuBaltic, SouthFront, Strategic Culture Foundation and Krasnaya Zvezda/ Tvzvezda.
Hungarians trust TV the most
Despite trust in media being generally low, Hungarians consider TV more favourably than any other platform. Furthermore, according to a survey conducted by the regulator NMHH, trust in any media is highest among 18-29-year-olds, and the older someone is the more critical they are. TV is the most consumed media, with 71% of the population aged 18-79 turning it on daily. Interestingly, a third of the population consider political news on TV to be the most trustworthy, but at the same time 72% of those surveyed described it as biased. After TV, online news sites are considered the most trustworthy in the field of political news. However, online media also clearly stands out in the spread of disinformation.The vast majority of the adult Hungarian population (90%) has encountered false information and 86% came across it on online news sites or social media, three-quarters of which were political.
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© Chris Dziadul, 2025
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