HBO enters digital game through Wizja deal

The deal is a reversal of fortune for HBO, the U.S.'s largest premium-pay channel, which earlier this year thought it would be shut out of digital television altogether. That's because in April Wizja's owner, U.S.-based @Entertainment, joined forces with Canal+ Polska with the intention of launching a combined digital platform.
Canal+ was adamantly opposed to HBO's inclusion in the platform. Not only are the two premium-pay channels rivals, but Canal+ is suing HBO, claiming it is violating Polish broadcasting law by transmitting its content to Poland from Hungary.
But when @Entertainment and Canal+ broke off negotiations in June, the door was open for HBO to team up with Wizja.
HBO will join already-offered Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and Hallmark movie channels. @Entertainment also snagged music station MTV, which Wizja will carry from Sept. 1.
"The HBO premium movie channel will be the jewel in our crown," Robert Fowler, president of @Entertainment, said last week.
Canal+ has failed to keep HBO out of the digital game and at the same time weakened its argument that the movie channel broadcasts illegally into Poland. While Canal+ sued HBO for beaming its signal in from Hungary, the company turned around two weeks ago and decided to do the exact same thing. Canal+ President Lew Rywin said his company could begin broadcasting its digital platform from an uplink located in Sweden.
Rywin said the company wants to eventually broadcast from within Poland, but HBO Managing Director Slawomir Suss said that there is a clear contradiction between what Canal+ says and does.
"It's just a lack of logic," he said.
Teaming up with Wizja will enable HBO to expand its reach, although by how much depends on Wizja's success. The movie channel is already carried by 54 cable operators across the country, including the largest operator, @Entertainment-owned Polska Telewizja Kablowa (PTK), which serves more than 870,000 customers. PTK also carries Wizja's programming, which allows the platform to also be distributed through cable TV as well as digitally.
The agreement with HBO gives Wizja exclusive rights for the digital broadcast of the movie channel. Wizja would not reveal how much it plans to charge for the movie channel, but cable subscribers pay zl. 20-zl. 26 per month for 24-hour-a-day programming.