Poland’s ‘n’ sees growth ahead of Cyfra Plus merger

Polish pay TV platform ‘n’, which is being merged with rival offering Cyfra Plus, had 929,000 post-paid subscribers at the end of last year, 71,000 up on the previous quarter. Pre-paid pay TV customers grew by 7% to reach 345,000, including 79,000 HD customers.

The pay TV platform turned in revenues of PLN198 million (€47.2 million) for the fourth quarter, up 20% on a comparable basis. Full year pay TV revenue was PLN739 million, up 21%. Overall revenue for the quarter on a comparable basis was PLN777 million, up 3% and EBITDA was PLN213 million. ‘n’ achieved full-year positive EBITDA for the full year in line with parent company TVN’s guidance.

Reported revenue excluding ‘n’ was down PLN7 million year-on-year for the quarter, reflecting the unfavourable advertising market.

TVN recognised a PLN1 billion impairment charge on its investment in ‘n’ holding company ITI  Neovision as a result of the conclusion of its pay TV merger agreement with Canal Plus Group in December.

“TVN Group successfully met its targets for 2011, with performance reflecting market volatility in the advertising driven part of operations and strong development of pay TV business ahead of consolidation of satellite TV space,” said TVN Group CEO Markus Tellenbach. On pay TV, Tellenbach said: “The Group has also achieved its strategic objective – participation in the digital satellite pay TV consolidation and securing distribution of its content through significant stake in the merged ‘n’ and Cyfra Plus platform. The announced merger with Cyfra Plus combined with the strategic partnership with TP Group set TVN Group’s shareholders in a very strong position to participate in benefits from creating the leading premium satellite pay TV operator in Poland. Further enhanced by access to the largest in the country set of telecom services and wide spread sales network of TP Group, TVN will significantly improve its risk profile reducing exposure to capital expenditures.”

Tellenbach said the outlook for the current year remained uncertain, but that he believed volatility would prevail temporarily. He said the company was likely to benefit from an improving position of the Polish złoty on the financial exchange markets going forwards.