Shock news for Czech DTT
By Chris Dziadul
Published: September 3, 2010 09.50 Europe/London
The Czech Republic is bracing itself for a major change in its DTT market, with the third DTT multiplex, currently operated by the Czech Digital Group (CDG), having apparently been put up for sale.
E15 says that news of the sale has been provided to it by “two independent and reliable sources from the TV industry who declined to be named”.
The third multiplex currently reaches over 61% of the population and includes such lesser-known channels such as TV Public and Z1 in its line-up. CDG is backed by the Dutch company SP D Corporation but is generally considered to be a joint venture with Ivan Zach, who owns 50% of TV Prima (the remaining 50% being held by MTG).
Although the third multiplex is likely to attract interest from Ceske Radiokomunikace (itself a multiplex operator) and CET-21 (behind TV Nova, which would like its own multiplex), any move by them to buy it is likely to be investigated by the Czech Telecom Office (CTU).