Elias Hazou
THE CYPRUS Telecommunications Authority (CyTA) and subscriber channel LTV yesterday pulled off another coup, announcing the transmission of the latter’s content on the digital miVision platform.
Last week LTV terminated its transmission to the Nova Cyprus satellite platform, but said the channel would still be available to subscribers of Multichoice Cyprus, which is an analogue service.
At the time, LTV said that the move was the result of an “unreasonable refusal by Multichoice Hellas SA, owners of Nova Cyprus to pay them fees due for the months of April and May.
For its part, Multichoice Hellas “financial differences” as the reason for withholding payment.
It was the first development in the television corporate wars to directly impact viewers.
LTV boasts some 65,000 subscribers, but the majority (around 40,000) have the analogue connection via Multichoice Cyprus. That leaves 25,000 Nova Cyprus viewers in the lurch, as far as LTV content is concerned – which includes European football footage.
But yesterday CyTA closed a deal whereby its miVision cable platform would host both the LTV and Alfa channels – arguably the most popular television content in Cyprus by far.
The two channels will be available on miVision as of today.
In all likelihood, that means Alfa will also be removed from the Nova Cyprus package.
The agreement was announced with much pomp by CyTA’s board chairman Stavros Kremmos.
“This is one more decisive step toward the provision of triple play, featuring unrivalled content,” he said.
Asked for how long the agreement was valid, Kremmos enigmatically offered:
“For as long as a marriage lasts.”
Back in February news emerged of a deal between LTV and the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (CyTA).
Under the agreement, LTV and ALFA would remain on Multichoice’s platform until 2010, while at the same time LTV and Alfa will supply miVision, CyTA’s digital television platform, with entertainment content.
But the arrangement was put on ice when it came under scrutiny from the competition watchdog, after private telecom providers warned of the creation of a super-cartel in the industry.
That set in motion a chain of events, culminating in last month’s decision by the Competition Commission (CC) which found that both Multichoice and LTV were at fault for the exclusive distribution of the latter’s content and due to the long duration of their agreement.
That untied LTV’s hands, as its content was now up for grabs. Press reports say that a deal between LTV and telecom providers PrimeTel and AthenaSat is imminent.
CyTA spokesperson Sofia Yiannakou told the Mail that they were not worried about possible infringement of competition laws.
Competition Commissioner Giorgos Christofides said his agency would be looking into the matter, but for the moment would not be launching an ex officio investigation.
Multichoice was not immediately available for comment yesterday. Last week the company promised to upgrade its thematic content on Nova Cyprus, such as sports and entertainment programmes.
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