Chris Dziadul Reports: Autumn surprises
23.18 Europe/London, September 7, 2011 By Chris Dziadul
September has got off to a flying start for Liberty Global and its operations in Central and Eastern Europe.
In Poland, following a wait of nine months, the company has finally managed to gain the approval of the competition authority UOKiK for the acquisition of Aster, the country’s fourth largest cable operator. However, it has come at a cost, with UPC Polska now required to dispose of some parts of Aster’s network in order to stay within competition rules.
The deal will have major implications for both Vectra and Multimedia Polska, the country’s second and third largest cable companies. Faced with the prospect of a stronger UPC Polska, the two may decide to work together.
But it is surely good news for the cable industry as a whole, given the strong competition it now faces from the DTH sector, and could trigger further and – many would argue – much-needed consolidation.
Meanwhile in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Liberty Global has taken the decision to rebrand its UPC Direct DTH platform and introduce a pre-paid offer. While the platform’s new name freeSAT is lacking in originality, opting for pre-pay is an important move as it should, at least in theory, make the offer more accessible and therefore able to compete more effectively with Skylink and CS Link.
The latter platforms, which are present in both countries, have enjoyed huge success in the last few years through being pre-paid services continually improving their offers, including the addition of HD channels.
By comparison, UPC Direct had in the 11 years since its launch managed to secure only 79,200 subscribers in the Czech Republic and 42,300 in Slovakia as of the middle of this year.
It now remains to be seen if Liberty Global will also rebrand its UPC Direct operation and introduce a pre-paid offer in Hungary. To date, the service has been performing much better than its counterparts in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, at least in terms of take-up.
Interestingly enough, its Romanian operation Focus Sat already operates on a pre-paid basis, offering customers cards valid for periods of one month up to a year.
23.18 Europe/London, September 7, 2011 By Chris Dziadul
September has got off to a flying start for Liberty Global and its operations in Central and Eastern Europe.
In Poland, following a wait of nine months, the company has finally managed to gain the approval of the competition authority UOKiK for the acquisition of Aster, the country’s fourth largest cable operator. However, it has come at a cost, with UPC Polska now required to dispose of some parts of Aster’s network in order to stay within competition rules.
The deal will have major implications for both Vectra and Multimedia Polska, the country’s second and third largest cable companies. Faced with the prospect of a stronger UPC Polska, the two may decide to work together.
But it is surely good news for the cable industry as a whole, given the strong competition it now faces from the DTH sector, and could trigger further and – many would argue – much-needed consolidation.
Meanwhile in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Liberty Global has taken the decision to rebrand its UPC Direct DTH platform and introduce a pre-paid offer. While the platform’s new name freeSAT is lacking in originality, opting for pre-pay is an important move as it should, at least in theory, make the offer more accessible and therefore able to compete more effectively with Skylink and CS Link.
The latter platforms, which are present in both countries, have enjoyed huge success in the last few years through being pre-paid services continually improving their offers, including the addition of HD channels.
By comparison, UPC Direct had in the 11 years since its launch managed to secure only 79,200 subscribers in the Czech Republic and 42,300 in Slovakia as of the middle of this year.
It now remains to be seen if Liberty Global will also rebrand its UPC Direct operation and introduce a pre-paid offer in Hungary. To date, the service has been performing much better than its counterparts in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, at least in terms of take-up.
Interestingly enough, its Romanian operation Focus Sat already operates on a pre-paid basis, offering customers cards valid for periods of one month up to a year.