Good prospects for Polish DVB-H

By Chris Dziadul
January 19, 2010 09.46 UK

The prospects for mobile TV are beginning to look increasingly brighter in Poland.

According to a study by GfK Polonia undertaken during the DVB-H trail in Warsaw at the end of last year and published in Wirtualne Media, 75% of respondents said they would be willing to subscribe to a service for a monthly fee of PLN10 (€2.47). What is more, they expressed particularly strong interest in watching the commercial station TVN and listening to Radio Zet on their phones.

The average daily usage time of those surveyed was 107 minutes and a surprising 86% used their phones at least some of the time at home.

On price points, over half (59%) of respondents said they would still be interested in subscribing if the cost was PLN15 a month.

Mobile TV services are being introduced in Poland by Info-TV-FM and are currently operating on a trial basis in 10 cities. The number is expected to rise to 31 by the end of next year.

Info-TV-FM hopes to reach an agreement with at least one of Poland’s four mobile operators in the next few months. However, speaking to the local press, Albert Kuzmicz, the president of the company’s owner NFI Magna Polonia, said that agreements to sell the service may be reached with other companies much sooner