TV Puls, co-owned by Mr. Murdoch’s NewsCorp, has become the frontrunner for getting more analogue TV frequencies, after Mr. Murdoch’s meting with PM Kaczynski on Tuesday, according to today’s ‘Gazeta Wyborcza’. Mrs. Kruk, the head of media watchdog confirmed that more TV frequencies would become available for the period 2007-2010(2012), before abandoning analogue broadcasting and obligatory switch to digital broadcasting.
Our view: We expect TV Puls (current technical reach of around 60% population) and TVN (current technical reach of around 90% population) to compete for the new frequencies. Winning more frequencies would increase chances for commercial success of TV Puls’s new programming schedule, which would be launched in autumn. However, with TVN new set of new programs in autumn, the station’s chances of defending its market share are strong. We view the market concerns relating to TV Puls as overdone. We would expect some rebound in TVN stock price today after a sharp drop yesterday.