Rumors of digital platform merger surface again
While digital platforms Cyfra+ and Wizja TV continue to battle for market share, talks between the competitors about a possible combining of platforms might again be on the agenda.
Reuters reported last week that Richard Lenormand, the finance director at Canal+, whose Polish subsidiary Canal+Polska runs Cyfra+, had officially invited Wizja TV's owner, the Amsterdam-based United Pan-Europe Communications (UPC), to discuss a possible merger.
Reuters's revelation might, however, have just been wishful thinking. "It's an ongoing saga (rumors about negotiations) over here, but at this stage there is nothing else but talking to each other from time to time," Nimrod Kovacs, UPC's chairman for Central Europe, told the Business Journal last Thursday. "As of yesterday, no discussions are going on."
UPC doesn't seem desperate to negotiate with Canal+. "We really don't need Canal+ per se, it's not a must for us, it would make a lot of sense but it's not something we need to do at any cost," Kovacs said. "Instead of waiting for a deal to happen, our strategy has been to really concentrate on turning the business around and creating a successful enterprise." According to Kovacs, UPC spoke several times to Canal+ about the possibility of the latter providing programming to Wizja TV "but that's not what they had in mind, so I think what we need to do is to focus on our own business."
Malgorzata Babik, public relations director at Canal+ Polska, said Lenormand simply spoke about what had been obvious for some time: there is no room for two digital platforms in Poland. "It's true that they (Canal+ and UPC) talk to each other from time to time but we aren't planning any kind of revolution soon," she said.
While neither side has ruled out future negotiations about combining their platforms, today they continue to compete fiercely.
On June 1, Wizja TV extended its promotional campaign for free activation and a decoder without the usual zl. 149 deposit. "Thanks to the campaign we're gaining thousands of new customers on a daily basis," said Ewa Visan, Wizja TV's sales director. The platform currently has 330,000 subscribers.
Canal+ Polska has strongly criticized such giveaway campaigns, saying they damage the market by accustoming clients to free services or products. But according to Babik, the company's digital platform is not ruling out future promotions as a way to increase its 330,000 subscriber base.
UPC's Kovacs agreed that the two companies could only benefit by combining their vast customer bases. "I am happy too (that the Frenchmen want to talk), eventually it might be a chance to rationalize the businesses, " Kovacs said. "There is a lot of duplication going on, two sets of boxes, two sets of billing systems, two sets of call centers, etc., I don't think it's an efficient way of doing business."
