Chris Dziadul of Broadband TV News has covered the Ukraine crisis from the point of view of the TV industry. The head of cable operator Volia has said that the Russian annexation of Crimea, last year, resulted in the loss of 200,000 subscribers from Ukraine’s cable market, with a further 250,000 affected by fighting in other regions. 1% of the 4.5 million total have switched to DTH/OTT services.
Cable operators, who kept fees fixed in 2014, now face a choice: raise fees by 25% – 30% in the first half of this year alone, or lower the number of channels in their pay-TV packages.
Meanwhile, Russia’s deputy minister of telecom and mass communications has had to present the country’s National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) with a bailout plan. It is the direct result of the financial crisis now affecting Russia, and indicates ways to reduce costs and increase revenues.
