Cordiant Digital Infrastructure’s (CORD’s) Polish portfolio company, Emitel SA has signed an agreement with Polish public broadcaster Telewizja Polska SA for an expansion of its channels’ transmissions through a new, sixth digital television multiplex (MUX-6). The agreement came into effect on 1 February 2023.
Emitel has developed the new digital terrestrial television MUX-6 over the past two years around the DVB-T2 technology standard to expand capacity and augment its service offerings for broadcasters. The new MUX-6 multiplex will cover 96% of the population of Poland and will be the second DTT multiplex operated by Emitel exclusively for Telewizja Polska, the other being MUX-3. The extra broadcast capacity provided by MUX-6 enables Telewizja Polska to increase the number of channels it offers and allows the media market to use existing MUX-1 and MUX-8 capacity for additional new channels in Poland.
MUX-6 will facilitate the transmission of at least seven Telewizja Polska channels. Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) multiplex licences are central to the functioning of the terrestrial TV broadcasting system in Poland as they give the holders the right to use certain radio frequencies (spectrum) to transmit television services in a digital format. DTT guarantees that content is widely accessible to consumers due to its near 98% coverage across Poland. There are six DTT licences in Poland. Emitel operates the network for them and owns one DTT licence.
CORD comments that, with its headquarters in Warsaw, Emitel is an operator of nationwide terrestrial television and radio broadcasting transmission services, as well as a leading independent operator of mobile service towers and digital infrastructure in Poland. Terrestrial television is extremely popular in Poland and Emitel operates all six DTT multiplexes. Emitel recently completed a multi-year programme to upgrade its broadcasting transmission technology to the state-of-the-art DVB-T2/HEVC standard to improve service quality and provide additional capacity for the launch of new TV channels.
Telewizja Polska is Poland’s national public broadcaster. As an operator in a dynamically developing media market, Telewizja Polska is expanding its programme offer to viewers with new channels in High Definition.
Comments from Maciej Staszak, Vice-president of the Management Board and Chief Sales Officer at Emitel
“We are delighted that Telewizja Polska has decided to co-operate with Emitel to expand its programme offer to viewers. Terrestrial television is extremely popular in Poland and Emitel recently completed the change of broadcasting technology to a more efficient DVB-T2/HEVC standard which has created the opportunity to improve the quality of services and to provide capacity for the launch of new TV channels.”