News

Three channels have joined the Skylink pay TV platform for the Czech Republic. AXN, the male-orientated drama and series channel from Sony, Retro Music, the 1950s-1990s music station, and new commercial entertainment channel Petka, all broadcast in the Czech language from ASTRA 23.5°E.

 Visit www.skylink.cz for further information

A study by Czech market research company Stem-Mark has revealed that a third of households in the Czech Republic now watch TV services in high definition, with a particular preference for HD among younger, male, high income viewers. Seventeen HD channels broadcast in the Czech language as part of the CS Link and SkyLink platforms on the ASTRA 23.5°E satellites.

Visit www.stemmark.cz for more information

Czech and Slovak DTH broadcaster, Skylink has changed the name of its free-to-view package. Following the introduction of a service charge for viewers who do not take up any of the Skylink subscription services, the ‘Gratis’ package has been renamed ‘Digital’ to avoid confusion.

A new entertainment channel from Central European Media Enterprises (CME) has joined the Nova, Nova Cinema, and Nova Sport channels for the Czech Republic. The Fanda channel is aimed at male viewers and features programmes on sport, cars, combat and technology, and is available via satellite as part of the CS Link and SkyLink platforms broadcasting from ASTRA 23.5°E.

Visit http://fanda.nova.cz for more information

The Slovak and Czech direct-to home platforms, Skylink and CS Link, which broadcast from the ASTRA 23.5°E and ASTRA 19.2°E satellites, have fully merged with the Luxembourg-based M7 Group, which acquired the two broadcasters last year.

Skylink, the DTH platform for residents of the Czech Republic and Slovakia has introduced a new film channel for subscribers. Film+ offers a wide variety of Czech and international films in all genres and is included in Skylink’s Multi, Kombi, Multi HD and Komplet packages without additional charge. Film+ broadcasts from ASTRA 3B at 23.5°E.

Visit www.skylink.cz for further information

The first TV channel dedicated to European cinema has launched as part of the SkyLink pay-TV platform for the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Film Europe broadcasts 24 a day from the ASTRA 23.5°E position and shows 500 films each year from all 50 countries in greater Europe, with the emphasis on quality titles that “push the film making art to the limit”. Film Europe hopes to expand broadcasting to other countries in the future.

Visit www.filmeurope.eu for more information

Skylink, the direct-to-home pay-TV broadcaster for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, has introduced a new TV package for subscribers which it claims to be the “most cost-effective”. Kombi includes all 27 channels in the Multi basic tier package, new SD channels Sport 2 and Paprika, plus seven HD channels (Eurosport, MTV, National Geographic Wild, Nova Sport, Penthouse, Spektrum, and Travel Channel).

Kombi is only available to subscribers with an HD receiver and costs €14.80 per month. All Skylink channels are broadcast from ASTRA 23.5°E.

Visit www.skylink.cz or www.skylink.sk for further info

Skylink, the satellite TV platform broadcasting from ASTRA 3A at 23.5°E to residents of Slovakia and the Czech Republic, has introduced a second TV option for subscribers. For an additional 80CZK/€3.30 per month a “Next” slave card is provided for a second set-top box in the household to receive Skylink encrypted channels. Only one Next card per household is permitted, which must be used in conjunction with a main Irdeto Skylink viewing card (an exchange service is available for customers with the older Cryptoworks cards) and provides access to the same services as the parent card.

Visit www.skylink.cz for further information

The Skylink direct-to-home platform, which broadcasts from the ASTRA 3B satellite at 23.5°E, has rearranged the channels available to Czech and Slovak viewers.

Kino CS, previously part of the ‘Multi’ basic tier package, has joined the Doku CS and Muzika CS channels in the CS TV package. CS TV is now offered as a premium service, broadcast in MPEG-4, available only to viewers with an SD MPEG-4 or HD receiver. Joining the CS TV channels are new movie channel, CS Film and children’s channel, CS Mini.

In November, Travel Channel HD is joining Skylink’s ‘HD Plus’ package of six HD channels. This follows the September change in the broadcasting parameters of Skylink’s DVB-S2 MPEG-4 transponder on ASTRA 3B to accommodate more HD channels.

Skylink also now provides access to adult channels Hustler and Man-X, which broadcast from the ASTRA 19.2°E satellite position.

The changes have increased the number of channels in Skylink ‘Multi HD’ package (both SD Multi and HD Plus packages) to 25 and the total number of channels in Skylink to 65.

Visit www.skylink.sk for more info