The over-the-top (OTT) market is experiencing difficulties in CEE, according to media executives who attended a panel dedicated to the subject during the second day of NEM market in Dubrovnik. According to them, the challenges are great while significant revenues cannot be expected in the medium term.

Drazen Mavric who is head of the board of CME’s Nova TV Croatia, commented that one of the main issues is piracy. Another major problem is the broadband penetration and low income. In the long-term, however, OTT may win over Pay TV and viewers may chose it over pay TV. Mavric noted that CME has been at the forefront of OTT services in the region.

OTT won’t be a big part of Telekom Austria’s business in the near future, as commented by Nikola Francetic, group wholesale, head of group media, content and broadcast at the company. He said that the small size of the markets, the challenges in investing in original content and the difficulty of achieving scale were significant hurdles.

Francetic said that cord-cutting was unlikely to develop significantly in CEE. Whereas typical US cable subscriptions are in the range of US$100, in CEE OTT offerings were “half to two thirds” the price of multi-play packages from pay TV operators.