Print
3 Companies Qualified in the DTT Auction
30.04.2015
Four companies applied for multiplexes in the third digital terrestrial television auction organised by the Romanian National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM). Grup Est Security S.R.L., Info Total Press S.A. and TV Sat 2002 qualified for the auction, whereas Nova Media S.R.L. did not qualify, having failed to meet the requirements in the Terms of Reference.
By 13 May 2015, the auction commission will make an announcement on the winners following the initial bids and on whether auction rounds are to be organised.
ANCOM has auctioned out two national multiplexes, 31 regional and 19 local multiplexes. According to the strategy regarding the transition to digital terrestrial television and the implementation of multimedia services at a national level approved by the Government of Romania, the multiplexes will be awarded by a competitive selection procedure, i.e. each bidder submits an initial bid, indicating the categories and the number of multiplexes it wishes to purchase. If the demand exceeds the number of available multiplexes, the auction may continue with primary rounds for the multiplexes where the demand exceeds the supply. For the remaining categories, the winners will be designated based on the initial bid. After the winners and the prices of all the wanted multiplexes have been established, the auction may continue by an allocation round through which the multiplexes will be awarded to the winning bidders based on the additional amounts they are willing to pay in order to acquire a certain frequency allocation.
The minimum licence fee, which is the starting price for each of the two national multiplexes is EUR 300,000, whereas the one for the regional and the local multiplexes ranges from EUR 1,000 for a multiplex allotted within a locality that is not a county capital to EUR 10,000, for a multiplex awarded in a county in the E category, as per the Terms of Reference. The licence fees have been established by the Government in February 2014.
National multiplexes will cover the whole country with digital terrestrial television services, whereas each of the regional and local multiplexes will serve specific assignment areas, which may cover one county or one locality.All the multiplexes will be awarded for a 10-year period.
A digital multiplex is a group of radio broadcasting and television programmes, additional multimedia services and other associated identification data transmitted from the emission stations to the end-users by terrestrial radio means, using digital modulation within the limits of a standard television channel/frequency block.
Additional information:
The first auction for national DTT multiplexes was completed in June 2014, when three national multiplexes were awarded to the National Broadcasting Company, this company winning the free to air multiplex and two other multiplexes in the UHF band, for EUR 1,020,002, i.e. licence fee.
Nine regional DTT multiplexes were awarded following an auction completed in February 2015. The winners were: Regal, which was awarded 1 regional multiplex (Râmnicu Vâlcea) for EUR 8,010, Cargo Sped, which was awarded 1 regional multiplex (Sibiu) for EUR 8,001, 2K Telecom, which was awarded 5 regional multiplexes (4 in Bucharest and one in Ploieşti) for a licence fee of EUR 52,000, Radio M Plus, which obtained 1 regional multiplex (Iaşi), for EUR 10,000 and Digital Video Broadcast, which won 1 regional multiplex (Satu Mare), for EUR 8,000.
