A final vote on the digital TV amendment is planned in the House tomorrow, according to ‘Pravo’ daily. One proposed revision calls for extending the current licenses of TV and TV Prima by eight years. Another calls for increasing the allowed ad time on each of the Czech public TV stations to 0.75% of the total airtime, or 5% for teleshopping. The money from ads would be used in part to buy satellite receivers for households not able to pick up the digital signal. Another proposal calls for requiring cable-TV companies to carry six initial new digital channels.
Our view: We expect a neutral impact of the news, as the proposals for the bill amendments fall in line with earlier announcements. We believe that the digitalisation would bring more fragmented TV market, rather than a more competitive one. In addition, it would create new opportunities for TV , to expand on its leading market position, via launching new thematic channels.