Radio Plus shoo-in for Warsaw frequency

The National Television and Radio Council (KRRiTV) was expected to throw a lifeline to Radio Plus last week and grant the financially troubled station a license to broadcast in Warsaw, the nation's biggest radio advertising market. "There is no (successful) radio network without Warsaw or other big cities such as Kraków or Gdańsk, so this is our 'to be or not to be,' " said Kazimierz Sowa, the station's chief executive officer. The KRRiTV was considering granting a license to either Radio Plus or the Pentecostal Church, which applied for a frequency to broadcast religious programming. "We were surprised because the Pentecostal Church consists of some 19,000 members dispersed in southern Poland," Sowa said. "Its group in Warsaw is not numerous either (400 members according to the church's Web site) and they would have a totally different profile without advertising. Of course you can't forbid others to apply."

According to Joanna Stempień, spokeswoman for Juliusz Braun, the KRRiTV's chairman, the council last week was likely to vote in favor of Radio Plus, which failed two previous times to get a license for Warsaw. "If there are any discussions it will be about details," she said. Sowa was more cautious about the station's chances of being awarded the license. "We'll see, nothing is decided yet but I think we can count on at least four out of nine votes and I wouldn't be surprised if one of the council's members delegated by President (Aleksander) Kwaśniewski would vote for us," he said. Meanwhile, private equity group Dresdner Kleinwort Capital (DrKC) said it is ready to invest in Radio Plus if the network receives the Warsaw frequency. "Subject to this decision and a few more conditions, we are looking at closing this transaction," said Roger de Bazelaire, regional director of DrKC's Central and Eastern European private equity unit. Radio Plus was set up in 1998 when 15 regional radio stations agreed to establish a network using feeds from the Warsaw-based Spółka Producencka Plus, a content producer owned by the Polish Episcopate. The station features a mix of news, talk, music and religious content targeted at 25-45 year-olds. Radio Plus' Sowa wouldn't comment on changes in the ownership structure once a deal is signed with DrKC. "All I can say is that the investor will be very important (in the structure)," Sowa said.

TVN24 cable talks stall Negotiations to include the TVN24 news channel into the programming packages of Polish cable networks have hit a dead end, market sources said. So far the nation's first 24-hour news TV channel has been available through Cyfra+ digital platform and via the TVK Multimedia Polska (TVKM) cable operator, reaching just 1 million households. The station, launched last fall, is in talks with the nation's largest cable operators, UPC Telewizja Kablowa (UPC TK) and Aster City. But according to industry insiders, the parties have made little headway because the channel's subscriber fees are too high. "As far as I know we are still in a deadlock as neither TVN24 nor cable operators have changed their mind," said Marek Bryl, programming director at Aster City, a Warsaw-based cable operator. But Grzegorz Piekarski, a member of TVN24's managing board said he wasn't surprised the negotiations were taking so long. "If you talk about a several-year-long contract on including TVN24 into large networks, negotiations take time," he said. "Price and term of contract remain the most serious problem in the talks."

According to market sources, TVN24's parent company ITI is offering the channel for $0.20 per household per month during the first year and $0.25 a month during the next four years. According to Piekarski, the station's quality justifies the rates. "According to estimates by (market research company) AGB Polska we are in the top five most-popular channels on Cyfra+ and within our audience reach (over 1 million households), we hold 3-4% of the market," Piekarski said. But cable operators are remaining steadfast. "(Last) September it was a very attractive channel but now its popularity is fading, viewers got used to it and tend to watch it less often," said Aster City's Bryl. "We're afraid that in summer there will be even fewer viewers to watch it, but the costs for us will still be very high. I know that viewers would like to have it now but we need to fit it into our long-term business plan." According to a source who asked not to be named, cable operators are hoping that ITI will eventually grow tired of waiting and paying $1 million a month to operate the channel and will lower its subscriber fee.

Meanwhile, ITI has been rumored to be considering purchasing UPC TK, owned by Amsterdam-based United Pan-Europe Communications, which has been having financial problems lately. Both parties denied the possibility. UPC has started the process of recapitalizing its balance sheet, according to a statement by UPC's communications department. "This process takes place at the company's holding level, not at the level of operations, like UPC Poland. At the operational level - the cable operations, like UPC Poland - it is and will be 'business as usual.' Poland is a significant market for UPC."

Solorz entices with World Cup Zygmunt Solorz, owner of Polsat, the country's largest private television station, has changed his strategy for broadcasting the World Cup, market watchers said last week. Solorz had planned to broadcast soccer's biggest event on Polsat Sport, available only on digital platform Polsat Cyfrowy. Now he plans to make Polsat Sport - the driving force of his digital platform - available to local cable operators. According to Gazeta Wyborcza, Solorz offered the channel to cable operators for $0.17 per subscriber a month. Aleksander Sawicki, spokesman for the National Chamber of Cable Communication (OIGKK) confirmed the chamber is in talks with Solorz. One of UPC TK's officials also confirmed that such talks are in progress. However, Polsat Sport's market value has diminished as Solorz sold the rights to eight of the most important World Cup matches to public broadcaster Telewizja Polska (TVP) for $7 million. TVP is available nearly everywhere in Poland.