Digi gains in Hungary

Digi slightly strengthened its position in Hungary’s fixed broadband market in November, while the market leader Telekom saw its share fall and UPC remained unchanged.

Data published by the regulator NMHH shows that at the end of the November Telekom’s share stood at 36.1%, compared to 36.2% a month earlier.

Meanwhile, Digi and UPC claimed 14.7% and 21.9%, compared to 14.6% and 21.8% a month earlier. Invitel, the next largest player, had a share of 9.5%, which was unchanged.

In November, the total number of broadband cable subscriptions in Hungary, based on data provided by the market leaders, stood at 1,085,865, of which the majority (918,878) were via DOCSIS 3.0.

The number of broadband subscriptions via FTTx was 435,647 and there were also 787,123 xDSL subscriptions.

Digi Slovakia goes mobile

Digi Slovakia has launched a mobile TV service named Digi Go.

Quoting the company, Parabola reports that it allows its customers to watch the channels Digi Sport 1, 2, 3 and 4 in real time via any available internet connection.

It can be viewed in any two devices simultaneously and includes a 14-day EPG, access to live streaming, including the English Premier League and UEFA Champions League, and pause and rewind.

Digi Go will be made available to non-Digi Slovakia customers in February 2016.

It will cost €4 a month and sold in three, six and 12-month packages.

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.

DIGI secures Hungarian pay-DTT carriage

Antenna Hungária (AH) will add DIGI Sport 1 and DIGI Sport 2 to the channel line-up of its pay-DTT service MinDig TV Extra on August 1.

AH and RCS&RDS-owned DIGI have agreed that following a test period the two channels will be offered on MinDig TV Extra from October 1.

DIGI Sport 1 will be in the core package and DIGI Sport 2 in a new, themed package.

Furthermore, the two channels will be available to all MinDig TV Extra basic package to subscribers until September 30.

MinDig TV Extra will see its current channel line up start to increase on October 1, from the current 35 to 55.

Romanian cable on a roll

Cable was the big winner last year in Romania’s pay-TV market, which grew by 5.7% to 6.4 million subscribers, according to the latest data published by the regulator ANCOM.

As of the end of 2013, 85.1% of Romanian households were benefitting from TV programme retransmission services.

Of the 6.4 million subscribers, 4.1 million opted for cable (+8.7% year-on-year), 2.2 million DTH (-0.2%) and 56,000 IP (+49%).

While the penetration rate per household grew by 4 percntage points to 85.1%, that for cable reached 55.1%. The majority (62%) of subscribers lived in urban areas, and of these 81% opted for cable.

On the other hand, 61% of rural subscribers chose DTH as their method of reception.

The take-up of digital cable services grew by 25% to 1.5 million in 2013, while overall digital services accounted for 3.7 million of the total of 6.4 million subscribers, a 7.4% increase on a year earlier.

DTH accounted for the most digital subscribers (59%) but digital cable subscribers registered the largest increase in 2013 and IPTV subscribers the highest percentage growth (49%).

The total number of subscribers to packages of electronic services sold for a single price was 2.9 million, while the total number of subscribers to multiple packages amounted to 8.7 million.