The development of digital platforms, content personalisation, the sale of archives to commercial services and the transformation of the TV advertising market were among the topics at the Digimedia 2026 conference, which took place on Wednesday at Kavčí Hory. The discussion confirmed that the boundaries between traditional linear broadcasting and internet platforms are blurring, which brings new challenges in the areas of copyright and legislation.
The expansion of the Oneplay platform and the ad-supported tariff
According to Lucie Oravčíková, Digital Director at TV Nova, the joint Oneplay platform, created by merging the services of Voyo and O2 TV, continues to maintain its position as market leader ahead of global giant Netflix and is showing sustained growth. Although representatives of TV Nova declined to confirm the exact number of subscribers or disclose specific viewing figures for individual titles, they are satisfied with the project’s progress.
“The only thing I can confirm is that we are still ahead of Netflix and that we are growing,” said Oravčíková, adding that the data is based on internal surveys.
In terms of advertising sales, Oneplay is preparing to launch a new supplementary package that will include adverts and offer a more affordable alternative for a wider range of viewers. Unlike the competing platform prima+, however , Nova does not plan to introduce several different levels of advertising intensity and will maintain a clear distinction between a paid version with and without adverts. “It will simply be a supplementary tariff, just like Netflix and other streaming services have,” confirmed Oravčíková, ruling out the possibility of introducing advertising across the board for all users. She did not specify when this might happen. It is likely to happen next year.
A major step forward in the digitalisation of the television market is the planned pilot project with the Association of Television Organisations (ATO), under which Oneplay will provide one-off real-time data on user behaviour. This big data should be used in the second half of the year to evaluate the accuracy of current people meter measurements and to potentially reduce the margin of error in socio-demographic samples. “We are certainly open to this, because, of course, the accuracy of the measurement would be almost one hundred per cent,” added Oravčíková.
Personalisation of public online services
Under the approved memorandum,Czech Television is analysing the technical and legal aspects of the potential introduction of mandatory user registration on its iVysílání service. According to Milan Fridrich, Director of Programming, Content and Digital Services, the aim is to gather arguments for the Czech Television Council and market partners, with the institution having a year left to complete these analyses. The whole process is complicated by the fact that, under the Czech system, the licence fee is paid by the household, not by a specific individual.
Viewer registration, which is currently optional, would enable Czech Television to better understand its audience through personalisation and recommendations, which is a standard tool in the commercial market for selling targeted advertising. Although the public service iVysílání does not object to these functions in principle, personalisation will not apply to news content as a matter of principle, to prevent users from being confined to echo chambers.
The sale of the ČT archive and the Disney case
A key topic of debate was the distribution of Czech Television’s content on commercial IPTV platforms and the sale of its programme library to streaming services. The public broadcaster faces a lack of understanding from viewers in situations where commercial operators offer catch-up viewing for several weeks, whilst iVysílání itself has on-demand rights limited to just seven days.
An extreme example is Disney content , which ČT can only broadcast linearly on the children’s channel Déčko, yet IPTV services retain it within their user-recorded content. Increased demand for content from Kavčí Hory has led to clear rules being set out in a memorandum, which allows the sale of older archive material to a maximum of three streaming platforms simultaneously.
For works from 2016 to 2021, a five-year protection window applies for linear broadcasters, with Oneplay, prima+ and Netflix showing the greatest interest in purchasing them. In addition, the broadcaster protects its so-called ‘Golden Fund’ of iconic series produced after 1992, which includes, for example, Devadesátky and Případy 1. oddělení, and these specific titles remain strictly off-limits for sale. According to him, revenues from the sale of archive rights amount to tens of millions of crowns a year.
For legal and reputational reasons, Czech Television does not plan to change the existing free ‘must-carry’ regime for cable and satellite TV operators. Fridrich pointed out that charging IPTV operators for the signal would mean that citizens would be paying twice for the same public service, which is indefensible from a management perspective. “At that point, it would mean that we would be putting pressure on commercial IPTV services, distributors and cable TV operators, demanding money from them, even though we are, in a sense, already paid for by the public,” noted Fridrich.
The strategy of small stations and the situation in the advertising market
Vladimír Pořízek, former commercial director of Prima, who now represents the Romanian media agency Thematic Channels, presented plans for the direct sale of advertising space on smaller thematic stations, such as the AMC group’s channels. Smaller TV stations have so far relied on Media Club’s sales packages, but becoming independent and selling directly to media agencies should bring them higher revenues and greater independence. “We sell directly to media agencies, we are able to sell directly to clients, and I believe this will certainly be the way forward,” said Pořízek.
The move by smaller players to go it alone is a response to a situation where the total number of advertising impressions with major TV groups is declining, which has led to a significant rise in advertising costs over the past three years. The aggressive pricing policy of the major TV networks has led to the TV market stagnating last year and even showing a slight decline in the first half of this year, Pořízek added. Investment in thematic channels, meanwhile, enables clients to reach a large audience quickly at a significantly lower cost.
Óčko remains with Mafra
Óčko’s CEO Štěpán Wolde confirmed that the music channel will remain within Media Club’s sales network for the time being, as the latter is fulfilling its obligations, though he remains open to future discussions regarding new commercial offers. Wolde also announced the stabilisation of Óčko’s position within the Mafra media group, thereby putting an end to long-standing speculation about the channel’s move to the Prima media group, and the conclusion of his personal involvement in the Cool Lab project under the Prima banner. “I increasingly feel that we are in a decathlon, and the worst thing about a decathlon is that you don’t know which sports they’ll pick for you next season,” he said.
Source: mediaguru.cz