HD boost for Bosnia & Herzegovina

Hayat has become the first broadcaster in Bosnia & Herzegovina to distribute an HD channel via satellite.

This follows the launch of a version of Hayat TV in the format on Eutelsat 16A at the beginning of this month.

Hayat HD is now the sixth Hayat channel to be distributed via satellite.

Although FTA, it will soon be encrypted in the Viaccess 5.0 system.

Hayat plans to soon also launch a HD version of the local pop music channel Hayat Music.

Gazprom-Media makes a loss

Russia’s Gazprom-Media has become an unprofitable business, posting a net loss of R2 billion (€34.8 million) in 2014.

Quoting a report by the company’s leading shareholder Gazprombank, Vedomosti reports that this contrasts with a profit of R8.6 billion in 2013.

However, its adds that Gazprom-Media also saw its revenues increase by 28.3% last year to R72 billion. This was nevertheless largely due to the inclusion of Prof-Media to the total. Without the latter, Gazprom-Media’s revenues would have in fact declined.

For instance, its national commercial broadcaster NTV saw a 12.4% reduction in revenues to R20.3 billion last year, while those at the DTH platform NTV-Plus fell by 6% to R8.8 billion.

On the other hand, the station TNT posted an 8.1% increase, with its revenues rising to R16.9 billion.

NTV-Plus has in fact also become unprofitable, registering a loss of R1.8 billion last year.

Gazprom-Media’s disappointing financial performance can in large part be explained by the fall in the ruble and its impact on the cost of foreign content.

Tricolor TV still on a roll

Russia’s leading pay-TV operator Tricolor TV gained 312,300 additional HDTV customers in the first quarter.

The 9% increase in the three months meant it ended March with 4.95 million subscribers, out of a total of over 11.01 million, receiving services in the format.

At the same time, its revenues of R2.7 billion (€50.5 million) in the quarter were 34% higher than in the same period last year.

In the first three months of 2014, over 2.3 million customers renewed their subscriptions to Tricolor TV’s basic services. This was 20% more than the projected figure.
Of this total, 1.86 million opted for the package ‘One’, or ‘Single’.

Almost one in three (30%) of those who renewed were HD subscribers, while 28% and 42% used MPEG-4 and MPEG-2 reception equipment respectively.

The ‘One’ package was introduced this January and as of last month offered viewers 172 TV channels, 32 of which were in HD.

The high level of premium content in Tricolor TV’s basic services has made the latter increasingly popular among its subscribers.

Belarus gains multiscreen service

The Belarusian incumbent Beltelecom has launched a multiscreen service named Smart Zala.

Enabled by SmartLabs, it allows customers to view, record and catch up with TV content, set parental controls and manage their subscriptions.

The new service is available on Windows and Mac OS computers, Android and iOS tablets and mobile devices. It will also be available on smart TVs in the very near future.

A key feature of Smart Zala is the ability to start watching content on one supported device and then switch to viewing it on another.

Commenting on the launch, Mikhail Grachev, SmartLabs CEO, said: “People expect more viewing freedom today.

“With Smart Zala, Beltelecom’s multiscreen solution, the user can select a viewing option to match his or her taste, mood and surroundings. We are confident that Beltelecom subscribers will make the best use of the new feature. We are looking forward to implementing more innovative projects for the leader of the Belarusian telecommunications market.”

BeIN buys Digiturk

Digiturk has reportedly been sold to the Qatari BeIN Media Group for a fee of between $1 billion and $1.2 billion.

Quoting the Turkish dailyStar, BGN News says that BeIN will control all the shares in the DTH platform, pending approval by the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF).

The latter originally seized 53% of Digitürk from Çukurova Holding in 2013 for non-payment of debts to the state agency.

The remaining 47% of Digitürk belonged to the US equity group Providence Equity Partners, and with the latter having announced it has completed its sales discussions, complete ownership of the company is set to pass into BeIN’s hands.

BeIN Media Group’s current assets include Al Jazeera.

FTA channels find growth in pay-TV

Europe’s free-to-air channels are fine tuning their digital channels to sustain audience shares in the digital environment.

Enders Analysis says broadcasters are facing a weak advertising recovery, a decline in TV set viewing by younger age groups and increased competition from pay-TV and international operators. The solution has been to widen the distribution of HD and catch-up services. Enders’ advice is to focus on strengthening the quality gap between the TV set experience and online entertainment.

ITV has shown the greatest increase in profitability, benefitting from its global production strategy. Its launched ITV Encore as a mini-pay channel available only on the Sky platform.

RTL and ProSiebenSat.1 have a modest upside from carriage fees for HD channels from inititives such as HD+, but production and pay-TV initiatives have yet to pay off.

Mediaset in Italy should benefit from the ad market stabilising, but says Enders, risks large pay-TV losses.

Akado to launch OTT service

The Moscow-based cable operator Akado Telekom will in the near future enter Russia’s OTT market with a full interactive digital TV platform.

Quoted by Comnews, the company’s spokesperson Irina Romannikova added that creating such a professional OTT product would strengthen Akado’s position in the operator market, increasing the loyalty of existing customers and at the same time adding new ones.

While refusing to provide any details about the investment Akado would make in the new platform, Romannikova said that it would obtain content for it from multiple sources.

It has already established its owns extensive library through operating a pay-per-view service continuously broadcasting on 13 film channels.

Akado is also considering offers of CDN solutions from a number of companies including Cisco, Huawei and Broadpeak.

The operator currently accounts for 19% of the pay-TV market in Moscow, while nationally its share stands at only 3%.

The OTT market is highly competitive in Russia, with over 20 legal services operating as of 2014.

However, only six had a market share of over 5%, with Ivi.ru (28%), Okko (22%) and Tvigle and Megogo (9% each) the main players.