The journey of exclusive content seems to be a matter of the last few months in particular, but it goes back much further - to almost a decade ago. It all started when operator O2 Czech Republic decided to kickstart its pay-TV service , O2 TV, and offered subscribers the first exclusive channel, O2 Sport, later known as O2 TV Sport, from 15 August 2015. This was complemented in the following years by O2 TV Football and eventually O2 TV Tennis. The latter ceased broadcasting at the end of last year to give rise to a new project , Premier Sport 3, which eventually appeared outside this TV service.
The operator came up with something that revolutionised the pay-TV content offering nine years ago, and which was later followed by other major players in the market, whether it was Skylink, Vodafone or T-Mobile. O2 has long been perceived as the number 1 player in the sports content market. Competition has therefore had to find other avenues. In the case of Magenta (T-Mobile), these included movie channels branded as Kino or the BBC First library of titles, which heralded the arrival of the eponymous linear programme. The latter was eventually offered by O2 Czech Republic itself.
More Nova Sporty and the arrival of Canal+ Sport
In recent years, but especially months, we have witnessed the launch of a record number of sports channels in the pay-TV field. If we go further back in time, the onslaught of new sports programmes was kicked off two years ago by media group Nova with the launch of Nova Sport 3 and Nova Sport 4. However, Skylink hasn't been shamed either, as it has started to take full advantage of the merger with its French parent Canal+. Its customers have welcomed Canal+ Sport, which, although it has partially appeared with other operators, has decided to keep Canal+ Sport 2 and Canal+ Sport 3 exclusively.
Late last year, the Oktagon MMA organisation launched Premier Sport 4 in partnership with operators, followed shortly by Premier Sport 3, this time focusing on the men's ATP. Another sporting bombshell was the arrival of Nova Sport channels five and six - one with Formula 1 racing, the other with Moto GP. While this was not exclusivity in the true sense of the word, Nova did have the sporting rights acquired and paid for accordingly. After a few months, it is not surprising that only the biggest players on the market have these stations on offer and the small ones cannot get them because of the high price.
Vodafone TV and the Karlovy Vary Festival
The most recent example of content exclusivity is the KVIFF.TV Channel, which was launched on Wednesday 26 June by the organiser of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival with Vodafone. It is available only on internet TV for now, but is due to head to the classic cable offer in late June and early July. Vodafone announced a film channel supplemented by reports and other formats filmed during the biggest Czech film event of the year, which this year will take place from 28 June to 6 July. Vodafone launched the Kviff.TV Channel shortly after it became the first operator to give customers access to the prima+ video library as part of its new tariff.
The purpose of the programme seems clear at first glance. As well as offering films that have appeared in the International Film Festival in the past, it is also a promotional channel for the Kviff.TV online platform itself. There was therefore a really hearty dose of trailers for the films that can be viewed here. From Czech films we can mention Bod obnovy, Bratři, Její tělo or #annaismissing; from international productions we can mention Dokonalé dny, Zóna zájmu, Zásah štěstím or White Plastic Sky. On the first day of broadcasting, the station faced birth pangs in the form of a mismatched electronic programme guide (EPG). For example, the French comedy Till Death Do Us Part - Kviff.TV Channel's first ever film - didn't start back-to-back viewing until exactly an hour later instead of the scheduled 12:59. This also delayed the airing of other titles.
Sweet.tv: Special Movie Channels
Approximately two years after entering the Czech market, the internet service Sweet.tv came up with an interesting novelty to differentiate itself from its competitors - an online platform from which customers did not expect much and the main benefit was supposed to be a lower price. Even cheaper, the service is currently available in a promotional offer, for example on Slevomat. However, in discussion forums and on the official Facebook profile of the service, there were frequent reports of outages, problems with watching programmes and poor technical support. The customer base of the service cannot be compared with the big players.
In recent weeks, a special preset Akční zóna HD has appeared on the number 5 programme position, which has been gradually supplemented by four others in recent days - Rodinná zábava HD, Skutečné drama HD, Vesmír komedií HD and Čas na thriller HD. Sweet.tv has deployed genre-specific movies on each of them, which resemble classic TV programming, but in practice it is all about playing movies from storage, so this model does not require a license. These 'TV channels' are not even labelled with station logos, but do include an EPG. The biggest surprise is that they can be watched without a subscription - just install this app. The operator has also created a special "Free TV" category for them.
Source: mediaguru.cz
