• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Romania: Digital System Takes Radio and TV to Remote Areas

Posted on: Wednesday, 27 July 2005, 09:00 CDT

Text of report in English by Romanian news agency Rompres website

Bucharest, 27 July: The recently launched direct-to-home system could bring television and radio transmissions to over 600,000 people in Romania. Major players on the TV cable market are offering this new service, which caters for those living in isolated areas as well as demanding viewers, weekly Business Review reports in a feature article carried in its latest issue.

There are currently more than 65,000 subscribers to Romanian direct-to-home (DTH) digital TV services, even though the three providers - Focus Sat, Digi TV and Max TV - only entered the market in the first half of the year. The system could neutralize the geographical monopoly of some regional cable operators. Romania's TV cable market reached 289m euros in 2004, according to a European Information Technology Observatory report.

The DTH system uses digital video broadcasting by satellite. Beside TV channel transmissions, this technology can provide its clients with electronic TV guides, instant messages between operator and client, a parental lock and other services.

The Romanian DTH TV market has potentially about 600,000 subscribers, Cristinel Popa, president of Focus Sat Romania, told Business Review.

"According to market studies, there are about 7.5m households in Romania, out of which 3.5m already use other kinds of TV or cable services. The remaining households are either in an area where the TV cable providers are not present, or they cannot afford to pay for such a service. Out of these, about 600,000 can afford and want access to such a service, but there was no option to choose until now. This is the market that we are targeting," Popa said.

According to Popa, the market is big enough for two or three operators, but no more. "Personally, I estimate that only two players will remain on the market for the long term," he said. It is possible that other players might want to enter the market now, when the business is in its early stages and the service is new, but the level of investments has to be high and the service is not easy to provide, he added. "Whoever is considering entering the market has to have significant logistical and financial support," said Popa.

The investment costs are in providing transmission of the TV channels, renting the satellite frequency and buying the necessary equipment. About 5m euros has been invested in Focus Sat, which the firm expects to recoup in about three or four years. Popa thinks the investment level will increase once the number of clients grows and the infrastructure develops.

For the moment, there are two major market players: Digi TV, which is owned by RCS/RDS group, a leading market player in the communication sector; and Focus Sat, which has recently formed a joint venture with the pan-European operator UPC.

There is also the smaller Max TV, which is owned by Digital Cable System (DCS), a consortium of TV cable providing companies, which have been active on the local market for 5-10 years. To get access to this service, the client has to own or buy a satellite dish as well as a card or a code to get connected to the system and other receiving equipment.

The Romanian operators provide all the equipment or just the connection card, depending on what the customer specifies. The service is priced between 5 euros and 7 euros for channel packages each month if the customer has his own equipment, and between 90 euros and 230 euros for the required equipment and its set-up.

Source: BBC Monitoring Media

More News in this Category