DahliaTV wants pay-TV to flower

摘要

Ambitious plans to launch pay-television on Spain's digital-terrestrial platform were unveiled this week by new player Dahlia TV, backed by the creators of similar platforms in the Nordic region. As New Media Markets reported exclusively in August, the project (then known as B3), involves the creation of a pay-television platform that would retail content from the existing national broadcasters on the free-to-air platform. Dahlia TV chief executive Fernando Ojeda said that deals with two broadcasters were close, but declined to give names. La Sexta and its main shareholder Mediapro - which needs to recoup its massive investment in football rights - are likely to be most enthusiastic, while Telecinco and Sogecable, owner of die Digital Plus pay-television service, are thought to be more sceptical. The target audience is the 75 per cent of homes that do not have pay-television via satellite, cable or IPTV. Initially content would be offered part-time pay-per-view, before moving to a four-channel "mini-pay" model for a monthly fee of around € 12 and around 10 channels at switchover in 2010.