Chinese connection for Czech O2

The Czech incumbent O2 has signed a memorandum on mutual cooperation with China Telecom.

In a statement, it says that it covers several strategic areas including data roaming services, providing international connectivity, data centre services and development projects in the areas of e-government and smart solutions.

According to Tomas Budnik, O2 Czech’s CEO, it will enable the company “to leverage our know-how to other regions and set new business opportunities”.

Charlie Cao, CEO of China Telecom Europe, added: “Our cooperation is now beginning. Within the defined areas we will jointly discuss the form of business cooperation, select specific products and focus on the way it is offered in different countries”.

O2 Czech, which is the leading provider of IPTV services in the Czech Republic, already has a unique agreement in place with Telefónica for the provision of security solutions.

Change in Czech DVB-T2 plan

The Czech Republic’s roadmap for the transition to DVB-T2 has become a little clearer.

Digizone reports that the expert group from the Ministry of Industry and Trade for Development and Strategy has, after a month’s delay, submitted a document on what will eventually form a technical plan for the transition. The delay was requested by network and mobile operators, along with broadcasters, for them to submit further commenst, wone of which the expert group has incorporated in its document.

The most fundamental change proposed for the technical plan is that there should be three, rather than two, DVB-T2 transition multiplexes to begin operating from this year until the process is completed in 2021. It would be regional and operated by Digital Broadcasting, which already operates the country’s fourh multiplex.

The two other multiplexes would, as planned, be technically operated by the national transmission company CRa and allocated to the public broadcaster CT and regional stations.

DTT on the up in Czech Republic

Terrestrial services are growing in popularity in the Czech Republic, with almost half (48%) of households using them as the main source of TV reception.

In total, according to research by Digimonitor for the national transmission company Ceske Radiokomunikace (CRa), terrestrial services are watched in 59% of Czech households.

Commenting on the results of the research, Martin Gebauer, CRa’s director, called for a fast transition to DVB-T2 with a schedule that guarantees long-term stability for DTT and at least the same coverage for viewers as today, along with the easiest transition to a modern generation of TV broadcasting.

The research also found that 54% of households had two or three TV receivers, with the average age of those receivers up to five years in two-thirds (67%) of the total. Only 8% of TVs were older than 10 years.

Over half (55%) of households planned to buy a new set within five years, with the total rising to 93% by 2021.

Broadband TV News notes that the Czech Republic still has one of the lowest pay-TV penetration rates among developed CEE markets.

Its DTT service only offers a comprehensive range of FTA channels.

Big challenge for Czech terrestrial TV

The Czech Republic will need transition multiplexes if it is meet its target of switching to DVB-T2 by 2020, according to Marcel Prochazka, director of regulation, Ceske Radiokomunikace (CRa).

In a wide-ranging presentation at the CAEK conference in Prague, he added that the migration to DVB-T2 presents a major threat to the entire TV segment in its current form and there has to be a transitory period for viewers to buy the necessary reception equipment.

Prochazka revealed that terrestrial broadcasting lost 18% of its spectrum when the Czech Republic switched from analogue to digital broadcasting. Mobile operators now use that part of the spectrum for 4G services.

It now faces the prospect of losing a further 30%, with the final decision resting with the EC.

Significantly up to 80% of Czech terrestrial TV viewers would be affected were this to happen, with channels disappearing from both the second and third multiplexes.

Prochazka also said that at present all the main multiplexes in the Czech Republic are full. They carry a total of 21 channels, none of which are in HD, despite 55% of the country’s TV homes having HD sets.

Meanwhile the regional multiplex (8) reaches 57.1% of the population and is being expanded.

Czech Digi sale approved

The Czech Office for the Protection of Competition (UOHS) has approved the sale the DTH platform Digi Czech Republic.

In a statement, the Office says that, “the concentration was authorised under a simplified procedure and the decision is already final”.

Digi, which was formerly owned by Romania’s RCS&RDS, has been taken over by Lufusions, itself owned by the utility company Lama Energy.

As previously reported in Broadband TV News, Lama Energy, which is owned by the entrepreneur Petr Lamich, was first linked with a move for Digi Czech Republic last summer.

The sale marks the latest stage of RCS&RDS’s withdrawal from its non-core markets in CEE.

Czech DTH market consolidates

T-Mobile has decided to close its TV service in the Czech Republic on November 30.

In a statement, it says that its existing T-Mobile TV customers will be able to switch to the Skylink service, operated by M7 Group, for no additional charge.

This has been confirmed by Skylink, which says that T Mobile TV customers will not need to modify or change their reception equipment and the conditions and prices for services will remain unchanged.

T-Mobile has been present in the Czech market since 1996 and has been part of the Deutsche Telekom group since 2002.

As of June 30 this year, it was the leading provider of mobile services in the Czech Republic, with more than 5.9 million customers.

The closure of T-Mobile TV marks an important change in the Czech Republic’s DTH landscape.

Skylink, into which its sister platform CS Link was merged, remains the market leader, with services also provided by UPC DTH’s freeSAT and Digi TV.

DVB-T2 first for Czech Republic

Ceske Radiokomunikace (CRa) has become the first company in Central Europe to undertake DVB-T2 tests with the new HEVC compression codec.

According to Michal Bures, who is heading up the Ultra HD trial for the Czech transmission company, they already show that it is possible to achieve savings compared to the current bitstream using MPEG-2.

This means that in future it will be possible to three TV channels in Ultra HD or 10 in HD on one DVB-T2 multiplex.

In the case of SD, it will be possible to distribute up to 40 channels, compared to the eight currently via a DVB-T MPEG-2 multiplex.

Marcel Prochazka, director of regulation and strategy at CRa, added that the migration to DVB-T2 with HEVC will enable the development of entirely new types of services for TV viewers.

Besides increasing the number of channels in higher quality, it will allow for mobile TV reception and the interconnection of TV with internet services.

It is assumed that DVB-T and DVB-T2 will operate in parallel with each other for several years, and negotiations as to when DVB-T2 can be introduced are currently being undertaken with the Czech Telecom Office (CTU).

The DVB-T2 tests are being undertaken with the support of Sony.

Czech freeSAT gains Premier League

The UPD DTH platform freeSAT has added coverage of the Premier League to its offer in the Czech Republic.

It is being provided by Slovak Sport.TV2, which joined the channel line-up on January 31.

Commenting on the development, Jim Helfgott, UPC DTH marketing and sales president, said: “We are pleased to further enrich our freeSAT plus package line-up through the addition of Slovak Sport.TV2 in the Czech Republic. This will further enhance our already rich package of channels giving our customers more choice without additional costs. Our plus service guarantees to our customers the best channels available in our markets”.

FreeSAT is the first DTH platform in the Czech Republic to offer its subscribers Slovak Sport.TV2.

Leading Czech players sign OTT deal

The Czech national transmission company Ceske Radiokomunikace (CRa) and Nova group, the country’s leading broadcaster, have entered into a strategic cooperation agreement.

One part of the contract between the two parties allows for the TV channels Nova and Nova Cinema to continue using the Czech Republic’s second DTT multiplex.

The other sees the start of cooperation in infrastructure and online (OTT) services.

Nova and Nova Cinema have used the second multiplex since 2008 and the new agreement is for a further five years, until 2019.

4K trial in Czech

The Czech national transmission company Ceske Radiokomunikace (CRa) has been granted authorization by the Czech Telecom Office (CTU) to continue experimental DVB-T2 tests.

It will now trial both pay-TV and Ultra HDTV (4K), employing the Zizkov transmitter in Prague.

The tests will last for several months and be undertaken in cooperation with the public broadcaster Ceske Televize (CT), which will supply the content.

Czech HbbTV progress continues

The Czech public broadcaster Ceske Televize (CT) has launched what is its third HbbTV application.

According to Digizone, it gives access to the iVysilani video archive, which currently contains nearly 3,000 days of content, through smart TVs and set-top boxes.

Alongside its Polish counterpart TVP, CT has been one of the pioneers of HbbTV in Central and Eastern Europe.