Czech pay-TV still lagging behind Slovakia
There are a third fewer viewers with pay-TV in the Czech Republic than in neighbouring Slovakia.
According to Atmedia, while the figure in the former among those aged 15-69 stood at 57% in the second half of 2022, it was 95% in the latter.
Commenting on the figures, Pavel Müller, head of research and marketing at Atmedia, said: “A significant part of Czech viewers do not pay for watching television and only watch free-to-air stations available on digital terrestrial broadcasting. There are many such television stations in the Czech Republic, and their number is also growing due to the transition to DVB-T2. The latest example is the TV channel Spektrum Home, which started broadcasting in one of the digital multiplexes at the beginning of March this year”.
The most used pay-TV platform in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia is IPTV and cable TV.
Müller added: “It is IPTV that is experiencing a big boom in recent years. Viewers have got used to new options for watching TV, such as replaying shows”.
Specifically, 62% of Czech pay-TV viewers use IPTV or cable TV, with the remaining 38% opting for satellite TV. In Slovakia, this ratio is 53% for IPTV or cable TV and 40% for satellite TV. The remaining 7% is accounted for by paid DTT. This method of receiving TV broadcasts is offered to Slovak viewers by Plustelka as part of an encrypted digital multiplex. In the Czech Republic, Skylink tried this form of pay-TV with Anténa+ but discontinued the service in 2022.
Slovak viewers pay almost CZK50 more per month for pay-TV services than Czech viewers. Specifically, in the second half of last year, it was an average of €18 s per month, equivalent to CZK437. In the same period, Czech viewers paid an average of CZK389 per month for pay-TV.
Müller continued: “This is the same amount as in the first half of last year, there was no major price increase. It will be interesting to see how the average monthly expenses for pay-TV will develop this year. Due to the high rate of inflation, the question arises as to whether pay-TV operators will increase the price of their services and, if so, by how much”.
