Inside CEE Television
- chrisdz3
- 4 days ago
- 5 min read
Chris Dziadul, May 21 2026
Bulgarian sale for United Group?
United Group is reportedly preparing to sell its fixed assets in Bulgaria. They include Vivacom and Nova TV, with e& PPF Telecom Group, the owner of Yettel Bulgaria, quoted as a possible buyer. The reports say that plans are still at a very early stage and United Group would prefer to a sell the assets as packages. Inside CEE Television notes that United Group acquired Bulgaria’s leading telco Vivacom in November 2019 and Nova Broadcasting Group, which includes Nova TV, in January 2021. As previously reported by Inside CEE Television, United Group is also preparing to sell its media business, now under the umbrella of Adria News Network, to the Luxembourg-based fund European Future Media Investments, backed by the Portuguese investment group Alpac Capital.
Kanal Zero debuts in Poland
A new general interest TV channel named Kanal Zero TV made its debut in Poland on Wednesday, May 20. Owned by Krzysztof Stanowski’s internet channel Kanal Zero, it is already available on several services including Netia, Polsat Box and Orange Polska, while its commercial airtime is being sold by Polsat Media. Local reports indicate that it will soon also be available on Canal+.
Ukraine forms AI alliance
Leading Ukrainian media have joined forces to create an alliance on Artificial Intelligence (AI). They include Public Broadcasting, which came up with the initiative; Interfax-Ukraine news agency; 1+1 Media: Starlight Media, Ukrainska Pravda; Espreso; Livy Bereg; Institute of Mass Information; and Detector Media. The Alliance is being created as an inter-sectoral platform for dialogue between media, OTT platforms, telecoms and technology companies. Its goal is to form transparent rules for the use of artificial intelligence in the Ukrainian media market, protect copyright, develop responsible implementation of technologies and increase the sustainability of the information environment.
Multiplay drives Polsat growth
Polsat Plus Group saw its multiplay subscriber total pass the 3 million-mark in the first quarter. This, according to the company, was equivalent to 54% of its customer total. As a result, its B2C ARPU rose by 5.8% to PLN82.2 (€19.3). Meanwhile, Nielsen’s All Screens Video Landscape shows that Polsat moved up to second place of the top 10 distributors of content in Poland this April with an audience share of 18.84%. Warner Bros. Discovery was in top spot with 18.84%, TVP in third (17.29%) and Google in fourth (6.74%).
Streaming rises, Netflix slips in Poland
Streaming accounted for a record 10.9% of TV viewing in April. This, according to Nielsen’s The Gauge, was up from another high of 10.5% in March. The Gauge notes this occurred despite the weaker performance of one of the market leaders, with Netflix falling from 2% in March to 1.7% in April. At the same time, YouTube maintained a stable share of 2.3%. Poles watched video content on TV for an average of 3 hours and 51 minutes in April, or two minutes less than in March. Separately, research by Mediapanel PBI/Gemius shows that although Netflix is still the market leader among streaming services in Poland its share is gradually falling. In April it was watched online by 9.19 million users, or 4.9% fewer than the previous month. Although second placed HBO Max saw its user total grow by 14.4%, it was still less than half (4.22 million) of Netflix’s.
A1 adds to Bulgarian portfolio
A1 will launch a new channel in Bulgaria next month dedicated to sports, cinema and entertainment. Known as MAX One, it will be on air for 24 hours daily, in HD, fully localised and available with A1’s TV plans at no additional cost. A special highlight of its schedule will be the Volleyball Nations League, the European Volleyball Championship and the National Volleyball League. According to A1, MAX One will also be offered to operators under attractive conditions.
Markiza extends football rights
Slovakia’s Markiza Group and the Union of League Clubs (UKL) have extended their strategic long-term partnership until 2030. As a result, the leading Slovak football league Nike Liga will continue to be shown on an exclusive basis on Markiza’s Voyo streaming service. Top games will also be broadcast on Markiza’s Dajto TV channel.
New role for Rafal Szymura
Irdeto have promoted Rafal Szymura to VP of sales EMEA and North America. Szymura has been at Irdeto for 16 years and was VP of sales EMEA from April 2022 until earlier this month. He will now orchestrate the comprehensive growth strategy, pipeline management, and strategic account leadership for Irdeto's Video Entertainment portfolio across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa — operating EMEA and NA as one integrated commercial team.
Key exec joins RTL Hungary
Kristóf Fischer has been appointed the head of digital products at RTL Hungary, effective May 18. In his new role, he will be responsible for managing the newly created, independent digital product department, where streaming technology, adtech, martech, CRM and automation are combined in an integrated team to ensure a unified, data-driven and more measurable operation of the company's digital advertising solutions. Fischer brings more than two decades of digital and telecom experience to RTL. He started his career at Vodafone, where he held the roles of head of digital and then head of customer experience, and then at Deutsche Telekom, where he was VP responsible for the digital transformation of 12 European subsidiaries. He returned to the industry after founding his own consulting firm, Pattern Digital Consulting, most recently serving as board-level digital director at One Hungary, where his responsibilities included developing digital channels, improving customer experience and implementing the digital transformation strategy.
Smart TV first in Russia
The Russian incumbent telco Rostelecom has unveiled the country’s first fully domestic smart TV solution, based on the Aurora operating system (OS). The smart TV prototypes were manufactured by Electra and are equipped with a Russian digital content protection system (DRM). The devices are pre-installed with a version of the Aurora TV operating system from the Russian developer Open Mobile Platform. Restrim Media is designing and adapting the OS for use on smart TVs. The solution incorporates AI tools based on Rostelecom's data infrastructure and Neural Gateway, as well as a voice assistant with a recommendation system from the Russian developer Enbisys.
Bulgarian expansion for English Club TV
English Club TV Group has partnered with Bulgaria’s Boryana EOOD to launch a multichannel package including English Club TV, TinyTeen, LangLab, LingoToons and Classical Harmony. Boryana EOOD is a media and distribution company while English Club TV Group is an international educational media company dedicated to helping people around the world learn English through TV and digital content.
World Cup set for Russia
Russia’s Gazprom-Media has acquired the rights to the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be held in the US, Canada and Mexico from June 11-19. According to a local report, this was done through an intermediary rather than directly from FIFA. The tournament will be broadcast on Gazprom-Media’s Match TV portfolio of channels.
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