Media Expres

Communications -- Data și ora publicării: 30.06.2014 13:44:31

Apostolos Triantafyllou, Eutelsat: „Competition is welcome but it's going to be tough. For them”

// Interview by Mihai Pavelescu // Eutelsat was the main sponsor of the second edition of New Europe Market that took place in June in Dubrovnik, Croatia. With this occasion Media Expres had an unique opportunity to ask Apostolos Triantafyllou, Senior Vice President of Sales CE Europe, Caucasus & Central Asia, Eutelsat, few questions about the market and the Eutelsat plans in the region of Adria and in the Balkans.
//
Reporter: What's the secret of Eutelsat wining all those public television tenders in South East Europe?
Apostolos Triantafyllou: (...) We are very local in mentality. But first of all, I think, we have the right product. Ok? Which started many years ago. Secondly, we listen.

Rep.: To who?
A.T.: To what the people say. You know, there are two ways. The way I want from the market this, and a way that says this is what that market can give. Do I need this market? Yes! I need this market or I want this market for whatever reason, I must get what the market maximum gives. And that means I adapt. If I say I want to sell this, and my (price. n.r) is this, and I want from this things I have in sale this profit, this ARPU etc., you faild. Because you tell the market to adapt to you. And Eutelsat alway and always and always has gone for what a market can ofer.

Rep.: At what extent you cover the market?
A.T.: In Adria we cover 90% of the market. All satellite pay TV operators are on Eutelsat. So I can say 100%. The free to air content follow the successful operators. So recently, and because of the crisis, the former HotBird never 19.2, become 16. So public televisions former on HotBird now they moved to 16. Why to 16? On 16 on Eutelsat, because we have the right product. Imagine that our 16 position, which is also the Romanian position, is between HotBird and 19.2. So the best free-to-air market, and we have the best pay TV, the best product for pay TV operators between the two positions. So double and triple LNB, your offer is tripled. Secondly, we work on helping our clients. OK? Eutelsat support the clients. In the beginning was the antennas, then it was the marketing, then we help them to grow, we adapt their planning, we put content that help pay operators to come, we invest, we wait. The number of channels over Eastern Europe last year they increased 30%, and this happens every year. We have three major partners, all from ex-Yugoslavia - Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia. This is not happened over night. It's hard work. And hard work means we have dedicated teams for almost two or three countries. If Yugoslavia used to be a country, now is six-seven. We have three people that cover it. This means that even the smallest country deserves attention from us. OK? Bosnia has two transponders. Slovenia has one. Croatia has another one, and that is outside the major operators, because total TV has eight.

Rep.: What are the top operators in term of subscribers here?
A.T.: Number one is United Group now, Total TV. Their official give 1.5 millions including cable and everything. They combine all the technologies, OTT, satellite, but satellite is definitely 30-40%. The overall is Total TV by far because it was first and they acquired cable, satellite, OTT and they operate across all countries. The do not announce their subscribers so we have to be very careful here. The satellite distribution over the Adria region is 60% (from the total TV distribution, n.r.). And then cable, IPTV, and DTT.

Rep.: Twenty million people in this region, this means 7 million households...
A.T.: Yes... Let me accurate, on the pay-tv market, satellite is 60 to 40. On the free to air satellite is something like 40, then you have cable with little bit less 30, IPTV with little bit less 20, and then you have DTT with 10. So this is a satellite region.
Rep.: Why is that, because of the mountain land configuration?
A.T.: Infrastructure, also. Which country is successful on IPTV? Hrvatski Telecom. Max TV started as an IPTV. And what they do next? They do satellite. And they are doing well, they are increasing. Serbia, the same. Serbia has IPTV.

Rep.: Any special announcements during NEM?
A.T.: The special thing is not new capacity, because we do not announce this anymore because is our job, we supply it. What its worth mentioning is the smart LNB, because this is the innovation. The smart LNB has undergone very successful tests, is under production, we going to produce tens of thousands of units, going to distribution with clients to experiment with them, but will be up to the clients to test and find the beauty of it. You can control the client, you can give VOD, they can actually increase their offer. They increase their ARPU.

Rep.: Internet via satellite?
A.T.: No. For this, if we make a broader picture, Eutelsat lately proposes the satellite triple play solutions. Which is a combination of many orbital positions, even with our competitors, with our two main satellites at 9 degrees. For this you have a two way antenna, which is made for the two way internet, and then you adapt a KA LNB. And this can be from 16 degrees, from 9, from HotBird, from any position. Let say you are a telecom. Ok? How do you do triple play now? You do it terrestrially. Tomorrow you launch a satellite offer on Eutelsat on 16 degrees. So what do you do? You extend your triple play via a combination of two orbital positions. On top of that you have a KA LNB which is a smart LNB unit, you can have the VOD, interaction, numerous applications - betting, voting, advertisement measurements. So that's the real innovation, we move towards the end user.

Rep.: What's the investment?
A.T.: The unit is not expensive. It is a little bit more expensive than a LNB is today.

Rep.: What impressions on NEM?
A.T.: It is the second year and we came here because we believe in the market, and secondly we are the leaders, I mean we endorse it. Ok? This year was more international than last year, last year if you remember it was even in the local language, the non local has to put the translation things. More content than last year, for some reason, the platforms were missing. I cannot say way. We had the interaction with the broadcasters, and we found the opportunity to promote 16 degrees, because the model is changing. Some time ago it was the broadcaster who needed the operator. Then the operator made his own channels, the broadcaster steps out and he needs to do his own distribution. And he looks at the most attractive position, with the highest reach, and in this region this is 16 degrees, so Eutelsat. We had all the major broadcasters in talks to us for some of the channels from their portfolio for direct distribution. That was quite rewarding, I guess.

Rep.: Anything else?
A.T.: What else can we say? Listen, we believe very much in this part of the world. In this South East Europe there are two big countries, the first of them is Romania, with 20 million, Latin based language. If you combine ex-Yugoslavia, is again 20. Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro they all understand one each other. The localisation is done once. The language on the set-top-box is actually one. You may have the Croatian flag, but I can take a Croatian subscription and go to Skopje, or go to Cerna Gora and still understand and sell it. So it is a very very big market. We can't let it unattended. Then, Eutelsat creates the bigger picture. From here you can go to Bulgaria, from Bulgaria you can come here, it's a kind of Slavic language. Although Bulgars they are not 100% Slavs and Bulgar. So putting all of these together, the region is 50 million inhabitants. So what you do correctly in one place, you can offer with some enhancement to the others. So for Eutelsat this region is not Adria or is not Romania, it is a whole. We have plans to cover everything. The international content is more or less common.

Rep.: All are selling the same american movies and Spanish telenovelas.
A.T.: Exactly. We like subtitles, but in Romania also. This means you put one feed, three-four languages and hey, you are there! Ok? So it is fantastic! And Eutelsat is promoting that. So we have plans, we gonna grow, and I don't know, what to say? Competition is welcome but it's going to be tough. For them.
(Reporter: Mihai Pavelescu)

Dacă tot ați ajuns aici… Abonamentele vă oferă acces la News Alerts pe e-mail, Anuarul gratuit online, și zilnic la REVISTA PRESEI, iar mai important pentru noi, ne ajută să publicăm știrile la liber, accesibile și pentru cei cu mai puține mijloace materiale interesați de comunicații, audiovizual și cinematografie. Dacă aceia dintre Dvs. care citesc știrile noastre și găsesc un folos în ele ne-ar ajuta, existența noastră nu ar mai fi pusă sub semnul nesiguranței zilei de mâine. Abonament click aici