HBO prepares new launches

net1

HBO has confirmed that it will launch pay-TV services in Slovenia and Croatia on September 23 and 30 respectively. It has also announced that it will introduce CineMax into Poland in Q1 2005. The moves provide evidence that HBO is preparing for a fresh push in Central and Eastern Europe, where it first established a presence in 1991 and currently operates in Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria. Earlier this month it was reported the company had, perhaps somewhat unusually, been awarded 12-year licences by the Czech Broadcasting Council (RRTV) to distribute its programming to Poland, Slovenia and Croatia. Up until now, it has operated in Poland on a licence awarded in the UK, while all its other licences, with the exception of the one for Hungary, have also been obtained from the RRTV.Lubos Jetmar, the head of HBO in the Czech Republic, has in addition confirmed that the company is now looking into the possibility of launching pay-TV services in other parts of the former Yugoslavia.