The CME media group, which owns Nova television, has television stations in six countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Oneplay has only been launched in Czechia so far, but according to Nova CEO Daniel Grunt, the platform should expand to all markets where CME operates within five years. It will not operate under the name Oneplay everywhere, but the technological solution should be the same. However, CME wants to evaluate whether it would be more profitable in some markets to keep the Voyo brand instead of Oneplay, as is currently the case in Slovakia, for example. What changes can be expected in this regard in the individual CME markets?
Portfolio of CME Group television stations; Source: PPFSlovakia
The CME Group in Slovakia owns the most-watched television station, Markíza, and the Voyo video library. The owner of CME, the PPF investment group, also owns the mobile operator O2 Slovakia, which announced the purchase of the cable company UPC Broadband Slovakia before Christmas. It can be expected that UPC cable television will eventually integrate with the O2 TV IPTV service, which is not as widespread in Slovakia as it was in Czechia, and will eventually merge with the Voyo video library into a joint service, such as the Czech Oneplay. However, we are still waiting for the regulatory authorities to comment on the takeover of UPC by O2. The mutual integration of services will take a relatively long time, as the Czech Oneplay took two years to prepare. Therefore, we cannot expect the launch of the Slovak Oneplay next year.
Romania
In Romania, CME operates the Pro TV television group with six channels, with a seventh broadcasting to neighbouring Moldova. In 2014, the television station added its own streaming service, Pro TV Plus, which was replaced by Voyo in 2021. However, PPF does not have any mobile operators or pay-TV service providers on the Romanian market. Therefore, as in Slovakia, it would first have to take over an IPTV operator or cable company and integrate it with Voyo. Alternatively, it could expand into the Romanian market with its own telecommunications group, e& PPF Telecom Group. After all, this company has mobile operators in Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Slovakia, where it owns O2 Slovakia.
Bulgaria
Bulgaria is probably the most likely candidate for the launch of Oneplay this year. The group operates the most-watched television station, bTV, with many thematic channels, radio stations, websites, and the Bulgarian version of Voyo. Through the e& PPF Telecom Group, PPF owns the second-largest mobile operator, Yettel Bulgaria, which boasts the highest revenues and more than three million customers. This is a decent starting position for deploying the Oneplay application, whether it is just a technical solution identical to the Czech one or even rebranding from Voyo to Oneplay. However, there is no pay-TV operator that would provide the Bulgarian equivalent of Oneplay with additional linear TV channels from the Bulgarian market in addition to its own bTV stations.
Slovenia
In Slovenia, the CME group operates the Pop TV channel and several thematic stations, including Kanal A, which combines reality shows, entertainment and sports broadcasts. The Voyo streaming service, which launched on the Slovenian market in 2011, also offers sports broadcasts in addition to a library of films and series. However, neither CME nor its parent company PPF have any mobile operators on the Slovenian market, nor do they own any IPTV or cable TV providers. Therefore, if the group wanted to create an equivalent of the Czech Oneplay, it would first have to make an acquisition.
Croatia
Croatia is the latest television market into which the CME group has expanded. In 2022, it acquired the Croatian RTL group from Germany's RTL. The group currently consists of eight television stations, which were supplemented by the RTL Play streaming service, which CME replaced with its Voyo in 2023. Incidentally, the name Voyo was inspired by Croatia, where Nova TV operated the Oyo service from 2011 to 2019, which was then replaced by the Nova Plus service. At the end of 2024, Croatian RTL launched a localised version of Voyo for neighbouring Serbia, where CME does not own any television stations but has a mobile operator, Yettel, through e& PPF Telecom Group, as well as the internet and television platform Hipernet TV.
Source: televizniweb.cz