Television in Croatia

Television in Croatia was first introduced in 1956. Now, there are 10 nationwide and 21 regional DVB-T television channels and more than thirty other channels produced in Croatia or produced for Croatian market broadcast by IPTV, cable or satellite television. Electronic communications market in Croatia is regulated by Croatian Post and Electronic Communications Agency (HAKOM) which issues broadcast licenses and monitors the market. DVB-T and satellite transmission infrastructure is developed and maintained by government owned Odašiljači i veze company.

The first television signal broadcast in Croatia occurred in 1939 during the Zagreb Fair where Philips showcased its television system. The first regular broadcasts started in 1956, when Television Zagreb was established. Color broadcasts began in 1975. Coverage and number of channels grew steadily and by 2000s, there were four channels with nationwide coverage in Croatia. In 2010, digital switchover was completed after DVB-T signal broadcasts started in 2002. IPTV, cable and satellite television market grew considerably, and by 2011 only 60.7% households received only DVB-T television, while the rest are subscribed to IPTV, cable and satellite TV in addition or as sole source TV reception. As of January 2012, DVB-T is broadcast in three multiplexes, while the territory of Croatia is divided in nine main allotment regions and further local allotments corresponding to major cities. High-definition television (HDTV) is broadcast only through IPTV, but HDTV DVB-T broadcast tests were made from 2007 to 2011. DVB-T2 test broadcast was made in 2011.

DVB-T television

The first trial broadcasts of DVB-T signal started in May 2002 in Zagreb, and in 2008, the government developed Analogue to Digital Television Broadcasting Switchover Strategy for the Republic of Croatia.^[1] In July 2008, the Government of Croatia announced that 106 million kuna (c. 14.1 million euro) were earmarked for the purpose.^[2] The government subsidized purchase of DVB-T receivers, distributing discount coupons worth 75 kuna (c. 10 euro) to subscribers of the Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT).^[3] The first two multiplexes, MUX A and MUX B, were introduced in April 2009, with the third one, MUX D, introduced in July 2010. On 5 October 2010, switch to the DVB-T was virtually complete as all major analog TV transmitters were phased out. The DVB-T transmissions in Croatia are all standard-definition, MPEG-2.^[4] MUX A is available to more than 98.5% of population of Croatia, and both MUX A and MUX B are available to more than 95% of population in each multiplex allotment region. MUX D is available to approximately 90% of population of Croatia, and at least 70% of population in each of the allotment regions.^[5] There are 897,496 households (60.7%) in Croatia receiving DVB-T television only.^[6] Terrestrial television infrastructure in Croatia is operated by Odašiljači i veze d.o.o. (OIV). The company was set up as independent entity in 2002, when a division developing and maintaining electronic communications infrastructure was removed from the HRT corporate system.^[7][8] As of January 2012, OIV operates and maintains 222 television transmitters and broadcast relay stations.^[9]

There are nine main regions of digital TV allotments encompassing larger portions of Croatia, as well as additional, geographically small allotment areas designed for local broadcasters typically covering a single city. The main DVB-T television allotment regions are assigned markings D1–D9. The D1 region encompasses the Osijek-Baranja and the Vukovar-Syrmia counties, as well as parts of the Brod-Posavina County east of Oprisavci. The D2 region covers the rest of the Brod-Posavina County, Požega-Slavonia and Virovitica-Podravina counties, and nearly all of the Bjelovar-Bilogora County, with exception of an area north of the city of Bjelovar and a part of the Sisak-Moslavina County around the town of Novska. The D3 region includes a part of the Bjelovar-Bilogora County not encompassed by the D2 region as well as territories of Koprivnica-Križevci, Varaždin and Međimurje counties. The D4 region includes the Sisak-Moslavina County, except the area around Novska, Krapina-Zagorje and Zagreb counties, the city of Zagreb and the northern part of the Karlovac County, including Karlovac and Duga Resa.^[9]

The D5 region covers the Istria County and Primorje-Gorski Kotar County except parts of the county east of Ravna Gora and area around Novalja on the island of Pag, but it includes coastal areas of Lika-Senj County opposite islands of Krk and Rab. The D6 region encompasses parts of Primorje-Gorski Kotar and Lika-Senj counties outside D4 and D5 regions, except for parts of the latter south of Lovinac and coastal parts of the same county opposite the island of Pag. Those two areas are a part of the D7 region, as well as Zadar and Šibenik-Knin counties. The D8 region includes the entire Split-Dalmatia County as well as parts of Dubrovnik-Neretva County around Ploče and Metković, a part of Pelješac peninsula west of Dubrava and islands of Korčula and Lastovo. The D9 region encompasses the rest of the Dubrovnik-Neretva County.^[9]

There are also 12 local DVB-T television allotment regions, covering specific cities and their immediate surroundings. Those are d11 in Osijek, d21 in Slavonski Brod, d31 covering Varaždin and Čakovec, d44 encompassing Zagreb and Velika Gorica, d45 in Jastrebarsko, d46 covering Karlovac and Duga Resa, d53 encompassing Rijeka, Crikvenica, Novi Vinodolski and most of the island of Krk, d54 in Pula and Rovinj, d71 in Zadar, d72 in Šibenik, d82 covering Split, Trogir, Omiš, the island of Šolta and a large part of the island of Brač, and d91 in Dubrovnik.^[9]

When Italian DVB-T broadcasting started in December 2010, interference was observed in northwest parts of Istria, and later on in areas around Zadar and Šibenik. The interference was caused by use of frequencies assigned to Croatia by Italian transmitters and excessive power of the transmitters. A complaint was filed by Croatian regulator of the DVB-T market, the Croatian Post and Electronic Communications Agency (HAKOM), with the Italian authorities.^[10][11] OIV installed additional transmitters in the affected areas to strengthen its signal coverage and reduce interference by February 2011 at a cost of 1 million kuna (c. 133,000 euro).^[12] Even though Italian Minister of Economic Development Paolo Romani announced in August 2011 that the problems should be resolved shortly as a transmitter causing interference was shut down and power of several others was reduced,^[13] the situation was not completely resolved throughout 2011 and the International Telecommunication Union's Radio Regulations Board became involved in the process.^[14] In the meantime, other technical solutions were devised and implemented besides the emergency transmitters in order to improve digital television signal reception.^[15]

Nationwide channels

As of December 2011, there are ten nationwide free-to-air DVB-T television channels, with HRT, Nova TV and RTL Televizija operating two of the channels each, and the remaining four operated by the Croatian Olympic Committee, Kapital Net d.o.o., Author d.o.o. companies and the government's Central State Administrative Office for e-Croatia. All ten DVB-T television channels are free-to-air and privately owned, except for HRT's HTV 1 and HTV 2 channels and Moja uprava channel which are publicly owned broadcasters.^[16] Doma TV is set up as a part of the Nova TV group.^[17] Since 2007, television audience measurement is performed by Nielsen Company using 1,086 peoplemeters, and it is applied to terrestrial, cable and satellite TV. As of January 2012, HRT, RTL Televizija and Nova TV are using the service.^[18][19]

Regional and local channels

There are 21 regional or local DVB-T television channels operating in Croatia in MUX D. Number of channels broadcasting in individual regions varies from one to four, while some local DVB-T television local allotment regions are vacant as of December 2011. Four regional or local television channels are broadcast in more than one allotment region. All the regional and local channels are free-to-air.^[16] As of January 2012, Z1 televizija is using audience measurement by Nielsen Company's peoplemeters, applied to terrestrial, cable and satellite TV.^[18][19]

HDTV and DVB-T2

Experimental High-definition television (HDTV) broadcasting started in Zagreb in March 2007, and it was expanded to Split, Rijeka and Osijek in 2008. The experimental HDTV broadcasting ended in February 2011.^[20] There were two experimental HDTV channels, operated by Croatian Radiotelevision and Nova TV. Pursuant to the digital television switchover developed by the Government of Croatia, broadcasting of DVB-T HDTV channels was performed using MPEG-4.^[21][22] On 11 October 2011, experimental DVB-T2 broadcasting began in Zagreb, using H.264/MPEG-4 AVC coding and conditional access system.^[23]

Multiplexes

There are three active multiplexes (MUX) in Croatia. MUX A and MUX B are reserved for nationwide channels, and MUX D is used for channels broadcast locally and nationwide. MUX A broadcasts HRT 1, HRT 2 , Nova TV, RTL and Moja uprava channels. MUX B broadcasts RTL2 and Doma TV. MUX D broadcasts three nationwide channels: Sportska Televizija, Kapital Network (KN) and CMC in addition to local TV channels.

A competition for two channels in MUX B was announced in July 2010 and the HAKOM received offers for the following channels: RTL 2, Doma TV, OBN and KN. Finally, licenses were given to RTL 2 and Doma TV. RTL2 and Doma TV started broadcasting on 2 January 2011. Licences for broadcasting in national part of Mux D were given to Croatian Music Channel (CMC), Sportska Televizija (owned by the Croatian Olympic Committee) and KN in December 2010. They started broadcasting in the second half of March and the first half of April 2011. KN was originally broadcasted in MUX B, as the holder of a license for a testing period, they won an experimental 6-month period license, later switching to MUX D, which carries both local and nationwide services at the same time. MUX B also carries two new channels—HRT 3 and HRT 4. The two are required start broadcasting by the end of 2012. MUX D is planned to carry two or three additional regional channels.

Analog television

Introduction of television

Zagreb was one of the first European capitals where television picture was broadcast. On 26 August 1939, Zagreb Fair featured Philips television system, operated for short periods each day of the exhibition, until 4 September. The Philips television, consisting of a transmitter and several receivers, was operated by Eric Klaas De Vries in Dutch pavillion of the fair. Fair gazette announced the event as the first after television broadcasts in London and Berlin. The programming consisted of comedy, opera, music performances and the first TV news broadcast in Croatia.^[25]

The first TV broadcast after the 1939 Zagreb Fair was in 1956.^[25] A transmitter was set up Sljeme in Tomislavov Dom Hotel, and in the evening of 15 May 1956, Austrian and Italian channels were transmitted, especially Rai 1. The first live broadcast produced locally was transmission of opening of the Zagreb Fair on 7 September 1956, and Television Zagreb started broadcasting on 29 November.^[7]

Development

The Zagreb TV centre became a member of the Yugoslav Radio Television (JRT), an umbrella organization of television stations in Yugoslavia, acting as Eurovision Technical Centre for the JRT. In 1972, Television Zagreb started permanent broadcasting of its second channel, and switched to airing the programming in color in 1975. The third Television Zagreb channel was introduced in 1988, and teletext service was launched in 1990. Following breakup of Yugoslavia, Television Zagreb was renamed Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) and it became a member of the European Broadcasting Union, however HRT suffered significant war damage to its infrastructure as 80% of its transmitters and 30 relay stations were damaged, destroyed or occupied. In October 1999 all three nationwide HRT channels started broadcasting around the clock, but in 2002 the third HRT channel ceased to operate.^[7] Nova TV was the first privately owned television in Croatia, started operating in 2000.^[26] It was followed by another privately owned broadcaster—RTL Televizija on 30 April 2004. Both Nova TV and RTL Televizija aired a single analog TV channel each.^[27]

In 2002, Odašiljači i veze d.o.o. was set up as an independent company, previously being a part of the HRT and tasked with operating television transmission infrastructure in Croatia.^[7][8] In 2009, there were 21 TV stations in Croatia, including the four nationwide channels.^[28]

End of analog broadcasting

The Government of Croatia decided that multicast (simultaneous analog and digital DVB-T broadcasting of the main channels) were to cease in 2010.^[1] Territory of Croatia was split into 9 digital TV allotment regions. The analog broadcast network was switched off gradually, by the digital TV allotment regions, starting with 26 January 2010. The process was completed, achieving digital switchover on 5 October 2010, but geographically isolated areas were left with analog broadcasts.^[29][30] The last analog TV transmitter in Croatia was shut down on 30 September 2011, as the DVB-T coverage was extended to 98.5% of households in Croatia and no less than 95% of households in each of the allotment regions. Approximately 6,000 households were left with no reception of the DVB-T and the analog TV broadcasts.^[31]

IPTV, cable and satellite television

IPTV is recording fast market growth—between 2009 and 2010, number of households subscribed to an IPTV service grew by 23% and reached nearly 300 thousand. In terms of IPTV density, Croatia is the fifth ranked market in the world, trailing only Singapore, Hong Kong, Cyprus and Estonia.^[32] The number rose further by the third quarter of 2011 to a total of 349,138 households, representing 23.6% of Croatian households. At the same time, there were 144,439 households with cable television connections and 104,635 households with satellite television reception, representing 9.8% and 7.1% of households in Croatia respectively.^[6] The leading IPTV provider in Croatia is T-Hrvatski Telekom with its MaxTV service, while Vipnet owned B.net is the leading cable television provider in the country.^[33] Since 2009, some providers offer HDTV reception of IPTV channels.^[34] The IPTV and satellite TV providers normally carry all channels otherwise available in DVB-T, with additional channels, produced in Croatia and abroad, available in various subscription schemes. A significant proportion of the foreign channels are localized through dubbing or use of subtitles. The two largest IPTV and cable TV providers offer 31 channels produced in Croatia or specifically for Croatia in addition to those broadcasting in DVB-T.^[35][36][37] Viewing of cable and satellite TV channels broadcast by HRT, RTL Televizija, Nova TV and Z1 Televizija is measured by Nielsen Company peoplemeters.^[18][19]

Dedicated satellite channels

HRT broadcasts dedicated satellite channels for Europe and Middle East, North and South America, Australia and New Zealand. Viewing of the channels requires a subscription.^[38] Channels broadcast to Europe and the Middle East via the Hot Bird 6 satellite, using Viaccess conditional access are HTV1, HTV2 and HRT PLUS. The satellite channels are also used to transmit three free-to-air radio channels produced by the HRT.^[39] North America, Australia and New Zealand receive Slika Hrvatske (Picture of Croatia) channel via the Galaxy 19 (North America) and the Optus D2 (Australia and New Zealand) satellites. The broadcast are encrypted using Irdeto 2 conditional access.^[40][41]

Market regulation

Television industry in Croatia is regulated by the Croatian Post and Electronic Communications Agency (HAKOM). HAKOM was established by Electronic Communications Act of 26 June 2008 and pursuant to Article 5 of the act, HAKOM is tasked with promoting and safeguarding market competition and interests of service users in field of electronic communication services and infrastructure, while contributing to development of internal market of the European Union.^[42] Furthermore, HAKOM goals include ensuring sustainable development of electronic communications market at affordable prices for consumers, providing fair conditions for return on investment in the market and contributing to quality of life in Croatia.^[43]

HAKOM grants, evaluates and revokes broadcast licenses for all forms of electronic communications in Croatia, approves mergers of communications industry companies, imposes fines on those who are found to be in breach of applicable regulation and performs constant supervision of the industry.^[42]

See also

• List of Croatian language television channels
• Culture of Croatia

References