According to HN Daily, TV channels would not need to ask for licences after shutdown of analogue TV broadcasting, only registration should be enough. The government would discuss the new proposal at the end of July and Parliament could vote about it in August.
Our view:
It is still not clear, how the digital broadcasting would be organized, after 2012. Abandoning TV station licensing is one of the options, given improved availability of the spectrum, however we believe that some kind regulatory regime would remain in place. We believe that the threat of new entrants after 2012 should not be overestimated, given the experience of limited growth of small TV players already present on cable and via satellite. We believe that digitalisation offers CME new opportunity with regard to launching thematic channels and increasing its ads inventory. We expect a neutral impact of the news.