From 1 February, FTV Prima, inagreement with pay-TV operators, will tighten the conditions under which it will be possible to watch programmes on its channels on catch-up. This is according to information available to MediaGuru.cz. Prima confirmed this fact through its head of communications and lifestyle, Prima Solootions Blanka Bumbálková. "The so-called grace period, i.e. the option to rewind the programme to any point during the first minute after playback starts, will no longer be available with any operator," she stated.
Some viewers have discovered that they can get around this unpleasant change. "Users could stop playback during the ad and start it again, thereby skipping the ad," Blanka Bumbálková explained. In practice, therefore, the change will have a significant impact. When viewers reach an advertising block during catch-up viewing, they will have to physically watch it unless they have paid for another option from their operator.
Current practice of major operators
For Oneplay customers, which has implemented a ban on skipping adverts and the option to rewind content, only the end of the grace period will change.
Magenta TV customers will also feel the change. T-Mobile was one of the operators that offered the option of 60 seconds of free rewinding after the start of a programme. Now, when a viewer reaches an advertising block and tries to skip it, they will see the familiar message: "According to FTV Prima's requirements, it is necessary to watch this advertising block."
In the case of Vodafone, viewers cannot rewind the programme during the commercial break and cannot do so during the programme itself on the channels of the aforementioned group. The message "Fast forwarding is not available for this programme" appears.
How other players are dealing with this
Prima has previously offered operators the option to purchase a package that allows viewers to watch embedded online advertisements. All operators are allowed to skip the advertising block after 4 minutes. Sledování.tv allows only customers who have purchased the "Prima bez reklam" (Prima without adverts) package to skip the block immediately. Otherwise, viewers must watch 2.5 minutes of online adverts. The LepšíTV service has the same settings as SledováníTV, i.e. 2.5 minutes of online adverts or a package that allows adverts to be skipped completely.
Operators have clearly marked advertising blocks on the timeline for catch-up viewing, so viewers know exactly when a given advertising block begins and ends. As stated by two major players to MediaGuru.cz, operators do not want to comment publicly on this change. "Unfortunately, we cannot provide any information at this time," said Vodafone spokesperson Ioannis Papadopoulos briefly. "This information must be provided directly by Prima FTV," added T-Mobile external communications specialist Johana Valtrová in the same vein.
What the amendment to the agreements with operators brings
The most significant change in the documentation is the so-called "grace period," which is a 60-second window for free movement on the timeline. While the older version of the agreement from 2023, which we have at our disposal, defines this rule as standard and integrates it into deferred viewing scenarios, the newer revision from June 2025 explicitly states that this term will be completely abolished as of 31 January 2026. This change thus tightens the conditions for end users, who will no longer be able to skip ads during this short time period.
The second level of changes concerns the formal and organisational structure of the document, which reflects developments in staffing and in the technical specifications themselves. The documentation now has a more detailed chapter structure; for example, user scenarios have been renumbered and clarified in the table of contents. Despite these administrative changes, the basic technical principles remain in place, such as the use of time stamps within the streams of individual FTV Prima stations and the technological interface for precise targeting of programme start times.
Source: mediaguru.cz