INTERNATIONAL NEWS

TAIWAN STOPS CHINESE operations TELEKOM SERBIA CLOSE TO STREAMING in Central NEW ACQUISITIONS Taiwan and Telekom Srbija is close to the plans to Eastern end of the acquisition cycle in its home stop local Europe had a good run in 2020. Pay- market and in neighbouring Bosnia & sales for TV, saw the biggest growth in the Herzegovina (BiH).Telekom Srbija had Chinese Romanian cable market. This more than a record number of 10.4 million users internet offset losses in other areas. As of the in 2019, or 6% more than a year earlier. television end of H1, Digi’s subsidiary RCS&RDS Its revenues meanwhile grew streaming services operated by the had 3,801,000 cable RGUs, or 354,000 by a 7% to reach a record RSD133.7 likes of iQiyi and Tencent Holdings.The (+10.3%) more than a year earlier. At billion (€1.13 billion) and the operating service iQiyi applied in 2016 to set up a the same time, the number of DTH profit rose by 25% to RDS48.4 billion. Taiwan subsidiary, but was rejected RGUs fell by 18,000 (-3.5%) to 499,000. Telekom Srbija’s TV customer because Chinese companies cannot total increased by almost 50% to 1.15 operate online streaming services there. million and internet customers by 21% However, Taiwan is not to 1.25 million. blocking or banning them, the National The number of satellite TV Communications Commission said. subscribers increased by 90,000 in Baidu-backed, Netflix-like iQiyi 2019. said in a statement issued by unit iQiyi RUSSIAN DTH NTV- PLUS International that it was paying close Russian attention to the situation and that it DTH believed it should “not become the platform specific target of legislation”. NTV-Plus Taiwan has a free internet, has unlike China, which blocks sites such closed its as Google, Facebook and Twitter. Interactive Taiwan also does not ban access to TV service, which provided access to popular Chinese apps like WeChat or functions such as pause, rewind and sites like Baidu. viewing programmes from its archive China does not permit Meanwhile, ARPU fell for both its cable on set-top boxes. Taiwanese firms to offer internet (-3.8% to €5.1) and DTH (-3.9% to €4.9) All subscribers who have the television streaming services. operations. service along with Basic or Basic Plus Chinese internet giants have In Hungary, Digi’s subsidiary programme packages will receive a come under pressure internationally, lost both cable and DTH subscribers month’s free access to its multiscreen led by the United States, where in the year to June 30. In the former (online TV) service in September, after President Donald Trump ordered case, the number of RGUs fell by 14,000 which it will be available for ` 199 ByteDance last week to divest video- (-2%) to 682,000, while in the latter the (€2.28) a month. sharing app TikTok’s U.S. operations figure was 21,000 (-7.6%) lower at NTV-Plus says that subscribers within 90 days. 255,000. ARPU was also down, by 10% whose Interactive TV service is The U.S. Securities and to €7.2 in the case of cable and 6.6% to connected to the Basic Online package Exchange Commission is investigating €8.5 for DTH. are now being offered all Online TV iQiyi after a short seller accused it of Romania Digi’s revenues in the functions. inflating user numbers and prices, it Covid-19 affected second quarter were, It also stresses that not all said last week. at €187.8 million. Cable and fixed channels available on a satellite TV ROMANIA CABLE MARKET internet were two of the main drivers subscription may be available on GROWS of this growth. Hungary Digi’s Q2 online TV due to the restriction of Digi Communications and its revenues were, at €50.5 million. rights to broadcast on the internet. 

SATELLITE & CABLE TV 61 SEPTEMBER 2020