Digital TV Europe June 2011
CEE 2011 > Pay-TV platforms
the nCAM, will support a pre-paid pay TV service. Sony will offer the nCAM as part of a package with the sale of flat-screen TVs in the country. Anting said that Sony was the first TV manufacturer to make such a commitment to CI Plus in Poland, but that deals with other manufacturers would follow. As the likely buy- ers of the screens will be consumers with sig- nificant disposable income, Anting believes that the CI Plus offering could attract a new class of high-end subscribers to the platform in the future. He says that the CI Plus pre-paid offering, which will include access to a pack- age of 12 HD channels and about 50 thematic channels, will attract higher-end customers who could contribute to higher ARPU for the operator going forwards. The offering is ‘n’- branded, unlike ‘n’’s existing pre-paid offer- ing, marketed under the TNK brand. ‘n’ launched an HD version of the TNK service at the end of last year.
The launch of the nCAM is part of a wider drive by ‘n’ to attract new subscribers to its platform ahead of digital switchover. “We are satisfied with how sales of that have devel- oped,” says Anting, who says that the new HD offering should have the longer-term effect of encouraging customers to migrate to the sub- scription offering. “We will definitely see migration from prepaid into post-paid. That’s one reason we launched TNK HD – because it runs on the same technology platform – the same set-top – as the postpaid offering,” he says. Because the device is a hybrid box that includes a digital-terrestrial tuner, customers will also be assured that they will be able to receive any future services on the terrestrial platform in addition to ‘n’’s service. Anting says that ‘n’’s big advantage over the terrestri- al offering itself will be its focus on HD servic- es (it has also begun offering 3D events). On the post-paid subscription side, another major initiative by ‘n’ is its launch of multi- play offerings in partnership with national telco TP in June. The pair have already collab- orated in co-marketing broadband from TP with the TNK service, following their agree- ment at the end of last year. The next phase will see them launch full combined TV and broadband subscription offerings. According to Anting, the bundling of products with Poland’s leading telecom service provider will reduce churn and encourage customer loyalty.
‘n’’s UEFA coverage (left) and T-Hrvatski Telekom’s MAXtv user interface (right).
Visit us at
www.digitaltveurope.net 19
Anting believes that ‘n’ is well-placed to prosper in the crowded Polish pay TV market. “‘n’ clearly targets the upper segment of the market with premium positioning,” he says, complementing Polsat’s mass-market appeal. While Cyfra Plus also targets high-end con- sumers, he believes ‘n’ is in a stronger posi- tion. ‘n’’s recent growth profile has been impressive – the operator signed up 25,000 new customers in the first quarter. Cyfra Plus has also effectively lost its exclusive grip on Polish Elektralasa premier league football, with matches now also being available on Polsat and (through Eurosport) on ‘n’.
Smaller operators
DTH players in Poland have to a large extent focused on HD and premium services (with significant differences between ‘n’ and Cyfra Plus on side, which have targeted higher end subscribers, and Cyfrowy Polsat on the other, which has positioned itself as appealing to the mid-market segment). Fixed-line operators, on the other hand, are looking to on-demand services to differentiate their digital offerings and attract new subscribers or encourage ana- logue customers to upgrade to digital tiers. While on-demand services may seem an obvious way for fixed operators with two-way networks to offer something different, smaller players often have their work cut out to per- suade content providers to supply content in order to enable them to launch VOD services to increase ARPU and attract subscribers. This can be particularly hard for operators with relatively small subscriber bases. Polish cable operator INEA launched a VOD service
in December and has gained “a few thousand customers” according to Janusz Kosi´nski, president of the management board. While the operator currently offers over 350 movies on the platform, Kosi´
nski admits adding con-
tent “is hard for small and medium operators because of the price of this content”. However, launching additional services is imperative, he says, in order at least to keep ARPU at a steady level. “But we hope these services could also increase it,” he adds.
In terms of on-demand, INEA is also plan- ning to launch a catch-up TV service. And Kosi´
nski said it is exploring other value-adds like antivirus programmes, online back-up or additional telephony minutes. Kosi´
that this type of add-on service will enable the operator to increase RGUs and grow its digital penetration, rather than growing by acquiring smaller networks. “In Poland the consolida- tion of the industry is happening right now. But there are other options than overtaking smaller operators and competitors’ cus- tomers,” he says. “There are our own cus- tomers who can buy new services. For exam- ple INEA’s subscribers could choose new serv- ices thanks to our development last year, as we implemented a mobile internet service and VOD service. The growth will come from con- vincing the customers to buy new and value added services.” Another key area of develop- ment for INEA is the bundling of products with the aim of getting subscribers to take three, or even four services (it recently launched mobile internet). According to Kosi´
nski, INEA’s customers are already show- ing a keen interest in multiple-services. “Customers more and more frequently decide to choose triple-play services for financial and
nski hopes
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28