Volia calls for flexibility as Ukraine pay TV hit by crisis

Sergey Boyko

Ukrainian cable operator Volia’s chief executive Sergey Boyko has called on content rights holders and operators to cooperate and adopt a flexible attitude to address the current downturn in the country’s pay TV market, fuelled by the ongoing crisis in the eastern part of the country, the annexation of Crimea by Russia and rising energy prices.

Speaking at the Telco Trends 2014 conference in Jurmala, Latvia at the end of last week, Boyko said that the multiple problems suffered by Ukraine in recent months have had a serious impact on the pay TV business, with operators forced to reduce their package prices and give discounts to retain subscribers.

He said Ukrainian operators need to renegotiate the fees they pay to content providers. Otherwise, he said, some operators will likely be tempted to resort to underhand practices including under-reporting of subscribers and illegal retransmission of services.