PAY TELEVISION MARKET IN POLAND - REPORT OF UOKIK
How many pay TV operators are there in Poland and what is the competition between
them? What is more popular - a satellite dish or cable? How many Polish-language or HD
channels are there? The answers to these and other questions brings the latest report
of UOKiK
[Warsaw, 7 October 2011] At the end of the 80s the first cable television networks began
to appear, and in 1990 was established the first non-public television station, operating in
Wrocław. During this time, the market underwent many changes and at present more
viewers use pay TV services than free terrestrial TV. The current situation was carefully
reviewed by the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection. The analysis of the Office
covered over 185 undertakings, both at the nationwide level and local markets (31 cities
was examined). The collected data relate primarily to years 2007-2009. The report also
used
exterior
materials,
including
those
of
the
Polish
Chamber
of
Electronic
Communication, the National Broadcasting Council and the Office of Electronic
Communications.
Services of pay TV are provided by satellite digital platforms, cable operators and IPTV.
The largest number of subscribers (over 6 million) belongs to the operators of digital
satellite platforms – i.e. about 60 percent of pay TV users. A dynamic growth in the
number of people using these services can be seen. In 2009, their number amounted to
nearly 2.7 million more than two years before. In Poland there are four service providers
of satellite pay TV. These are: Canal + Cyfrowy (Cyfra + platform operator), Cyfrowy
Polsat, ITI Neovison (the owner of Telewizja N and Telewizja na kartę) and
Telekomunikacja Polska. Currently, the largest digital satellite platform in Poland is
Cyfrowy Polsat, which precedes Cyfra +.
Cable television has slightly fewer subscribers. Their services are used by approximately
4.6 million people, and the Polish market is the third largest in Europe. There are over 600
operators, but according to the Polish Chamber of Electronic Communication over 60
percent of the market belongs to one of the four largest operators.
Cable networks registered a much smaller increase in the number of subscribers than
satellite platforms primarily due to the high costs of building the network necessary to
receive cable television. This limits the activity of cable networks mainly to urban areas
and multi-family housing. Markets of large cities are already heavily penetrated, which
cannot yet be said about the villages and small towns, where the digital platforms expand.
In addition, one of the problems of development of cable television involves blocking
access of operators to certain buildings, mainly by housing cooperatives. Such behaviours
were already subject to numerous proceedings conducted by UOKiK.
The least widespread way of receiving pay TV is IPTV. In 2009, four sub-regional cable
operators provided this type of service. According to surveyed entities, the reason for low
popularity of these services include high costs of building the necessary infrastructure and
strong saturation of the market by other means of broadcasting, and issues with program
content security.
In 2009, the offer of most pay TV operators included the average of 56 Polish-language
channels broadcast in analogue system. In the case of programs broadcast in a digital
system there are significant differences between individual operators. Their number varies
from several dozen to over 100. The range of channels broadcast in HD is also growing. As
the first in Poland, in 2007, this standard was introduced by Television N. Multimedia
Poland was a pioneer among the cable networks. Currently, the major market players offer
at least some HD programs.
Competition between operators takes place in particular local markets, not nationwide. In
many areas competition between digital platforms and cable TV stations is totally ruled
out - for example in rural or poorly urbanized areas it is unprofitable to build the
infrastructure for cable TV, while in the cities, it happens that the administrators of
buildings for aesthetic reasons prohibit the installation of satellite antennas. Also the use
of different price lists by the cable networks is applied, depending on the place of service
provision.
Conclusions gathered by the Office contributed to issuing of the conditional consent to
taking over Aster by UPC Polska. UOKiK research showed that the concentration would
result in a significant restriction of competition in Warsaw and Krakow.
Additional information for the media:
Małgorzata Cieloch, Spokesperson for UOKiK
Department of International Relations and Communication
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa
Tel. +48 22 827 28 92, 55 60 314, 55 60 430
Fax +48 22 826 11 86
E-mail: [email protected]