Lenka Hrivnáková, Author at The Association of Commercial Television

IPTV AND CABLE HAVE OVERTAKEN TERRESTRIALS IN TV SIGNAL RECEPTION

Receiving a TV signal via the internet or cable has become the strongest way to receive a signal in the Czech Republic. It has also overtaken the previously leading terrestrial reception by several percentage points. The data is presented by the ATO’s Continuous Research.

Currently, the most used main type of TV signal reception in the Czech Republic is via IPTV or cable. With a share of 46%, it overtakes terrestrial reception (DTT), which is the second most used with 41%. IPTV has shown growth in recent years not only at the expense of terrestrial, but also satellite reception (13%). This is based on data from the Continuous Survey, which surveys 12,000 Czech households per year. The research is carried out by the Nielsen agency, which delivers it to the Association of Television Organisations (ATO).

IPTV reception brings viewers a spectrum of available TV stations, but also interactive services, including the so-called back-viewing. These services in particular are behind the growth in so-called delayed viewing, which (within three days of broadcast) accounted for 11.1% of total viewing in 2024, according to official measurement (PCEM) data. An increasing number of TV households also declare that at least one of their TV sets is connected to the internet: in 2024 this was 57% of households. Compared to 2023, this represents an increase of around 6 percentage points.

4% watch TV shows on a PC, tablet or mobile

92% of Czech households watch TV programmes. At least one working TV set with TV signal reception is owned by 87.4% of Czech households. Another 4.2% of households do not have a TV set with a TV signal, but watch TV programmes on a computer, tablet or mobile (so-called second screens). In any case, TV remains the most common media device in Czech households despite the growing penetration of other digital devices such as laptops (65%), tablets (32%) and smartphones (82%).

Source: ATO-Nielsen, Continuous Research 2024. Base: All households

Drama shows attract the most

The results of the 2024 TV viewership analysis also show that dramatic shows (series and movies) are the most sought after by viewers with a 51.4% share. Not only do they account for the largest share of airtime and thus remain the dominant part of the Czech television offer in the long term, but they also regularly top the ratings charts. They are followed by entertainment, news, sports and documentaries.

Source: ATO-Nielsen

“While the ways in which people consume video content are expanding with the advancement of modern technology, the TV set still dominates as the primary device for watching television. The technical parameters of TV sets in Czech households (size, picture resolution, connectivity) are constantly improving, and Continuous Research data shows that a growing percentage of Czech households are willing to pay for premium TV and video content viewing options,” said Michal Jordan, CEO of ATO.

Source: mediaguru.cz

CZECH TELEVISION STAYED ABOVE 30 PERCENT IN JANUARY, SHARE INCREASED BY NOVA

Czech Television’s stations reached their highest share in the audience group over 15 years of age in January. The Nova group improved its share the most compared to the same month last year.

Despite a year-on-year decrease, Czech Television maintained a share of more than 30% in the universal audience group over 15 years old in the first month of this year. Cumulatively, they achieved a share of 30.09% in all-day broadcasting. This is according to official viewership data from ATO-Nielsen.

In the 15-54 and 18-69 audience groups, as well as in prime time across all key audience categories (15+,15-54 and 18-69), the Nova group showed the highest share. It was also the only one of the top three domestic TV groups to post a significant year-on-year increase in audience share in January, both in daytime and prime-time.

Television Seznam further increased its share, reaching 1.76% (full day) in its primary 18-69 group. Barrandov, although down year-on-year in the 15+ group, halted its decline and even slightly increased its share in the 15-54 and partly 18-69 target groups. This applies to all-day and prime time.

TV group share (%), all day, January 2025

Source: mediaguru.cz

Share of TV groups (%), prime-time, January 2025

Source: mediaguru.cz

Nova TV channel, CNN Prima News over 2%

Among individual stations, the main channel TV Nova and the thematic station Nova Gold improved the most in January year-on-year. They gained almost one percentage point in the 15+ audience group in all-day broadcasting.

The news channel CT24 also had a higher share this January compared to last January, as well as Prima Krimi and CNN Prima News, which rose above the 2% level in January (2.19%, 15+). The channels Nova Lady and Nova Action (all shown for 15+, full day) also improved slightly.

The most-watched programme in January was the premiere of the crime drama Killer Steps, based on a novel by Michaela Klevis. The opening episode of Limity on ČT1 (1.4 million) and Televizní noviny on TV Nova (most watched 1.29 million) were also among the top January shows.

Source: mediaguru.cz

FRAUDSTERS FAKE BEING LAWYERS TO ACCUSE OF COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT, WARNS THE CZECH BAR ASSOCIATION

Today, the Czech Bar Association (CBA) has issued another warning against people who pose as lawyers or act on behalf of law firms. The new trend is for scammers to accuse email recipients of intellectual property or copyright infringement. They pretend to be Czech Television, Warner Music Group or Sony Music Entertainment lawyers.

While the CBA recorded six reports from attorneys regarding the misuse of their identities two years ago, last year there were 37 such reports and seven more were filed in the past week alone. Currently, CBA warns, for example, against the misuse of data of law firms such as PRK Partners, KVB or Kocián Šolc Balaštík. “The sender, acting on behalf of KŠB or one of its attorneys, pretends to be a legal representative of a prominent film studio or entertainment company, warning the recipient of an alleged copyright infringement on their Facebook page,” described Radka Felgrová, an attorney from the latter law firm.

According to the CBA, the scammers are trying to “defraud people or scare them”. The CBA has recommended that recipients delete such emails immediately and not open attachments, as attorneys do not communicate in this way. The sender’s e-mail address, particularly the part following the at sign, can be a warning signal – law firms have their own addresses and do not send emails via seznam.cz or gmail.com.

In case of any doubts, the public can check the name of the lawyer or law firm via the search engine on the CBA website, find the relevant contact there, contact the lawyer personally and make sure that the e-mail was not fraudulent. The CBA also publishes notifications from lawyers whose data has been misused by fraudsters in the website’s News section.

Source: ceska-justice.cz

JAIL FOR MIDLANDS ILLEGAL STREAMING OPERATOR

A man from Birmingham who ran a sophisticated illegal streaming operation has been jailed for two years and nine months for running an illegal streaming service.

Gary McNally, 55, from Birmingham ran the IPTV service known as Each Online.

The service provided access to illegal streams, which included Sky Entertainment, Sky Sports and Sky Movie channels, as well as premium television content owned by other national and international broadcasters.

McNally first came to the attention of Sky in June 2020, after an investigation revealed that McNally was using legitimate NOW TV accounts to gain illegal access to Sky content.

Sky referred the matter to West Midlands Police who, in September 2021, executed warrants at two residential properties in the Birmingham area which led to McNally being located and arrested for fraud and intellectual property offences.

A search of McNally’s property resulted in the seizure of a large amount of digital equipment including laptops, hard drives and NOW TV devices believed to have been used by McNally to operate pirate IPTV services.

During a single world championship boxing match broadcast by Sky in February 2018, McNally claimed to have, over 2,000 subscribers to his illegal service.

Last March, McNally appeared at Birmingham Crown Court where he pleaded guilty to two charges of making articles for use in frauds relating to the provision and creation of IPTV services contrary to Section 7(1)(b) of the Fraud Act 2006.

He was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court to two years and nine months for both counts to be served concurrently.

Matt Hibbert, Group Director of Anti-Piracy at Sky said: “Today’s sentencing highlights the significant consequences that can arise for those that get involved in illegally streaming content.

“We are grateful to the West Midlands Police for acting so robustly to take down a highly sophisticated illegal streaming operation.

“We will continue to work with law enforcement to protect our content and help keep consumers safe from criminal piracy networks.”

Two other individuals were arrested alongside McNally. One person has since been released with no further action. A second person has been released pending further investigation.

Source: broadbandtvnews.com

MEDIA CLUB AND NOVA DELIVERED THE MOST GRP LAST YEAR, INCREASED BY ČT AND ATMEDIA

The position on the TV advertising market remains unchanged, with the overwhelming part of GRPs going to the Media Club and TV Nova networks. However, commercial TV channels are coping with the declining number of GRPs in linear broadcasting.

Almost 86% of all TV advertising GRPs in 2024 were accounted for by the Media Club representation and Nova stations. In a year-on-year comparison, Atmedia and Czech Television stations improved the most in the number of GRPs delivered. But in aggregate, TV stations delivered 3% fewer GRPs last year than in 2023, according to ATO-Nielsen monitoring.

The Media Club (the Prima, Barrandov, Óčko groups, as well as the Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Nick Toons, Paramount Network, Retro channels) has the highest share of GRPs delivered. All of these channels accounted for half of all TV GRPs delivered last year. However, Media Club registered a reduction of around 6% in the number of GRPs last year.

Almost 36% of the share of GRPs delivered last year belonged to the channels of the Nova group (comparable share as in 2023), while Atmedia and Czech Television took around 7% of the share. The latter benefited from rich sporting events last year, which it was able to build on – albeit to a limited extent – with advertising sales. Atmedia, on the other hand, increased the number of GRPs delivered thanks to a higher share of viewership.

Sales networks’ share of GRPs delivered in 2024

Source: ATO-Nielsen, 1.1.-31.12.2024, TV spots and sponsorship, calculated for the CS buying of the listed entities, i.e. CT 15+, Media Club, Atmedia 15-69 and Nova Group 15-54.

However, last year too, commercial TV stations faced an overhang of demand and all the GRPs in demand could not be placed on air. In the case of Atmedia, it was roughly one-fifth of the GRPs in demand, as managing director Michaela Suráková noted. In the case of Media Club, it was about a tenth of the GRPs in demand, according to former commercial director Vladimir Pořízek.

The TV advertising market grew at about five per cent last year, according to representatives of TV groups, but there will be an increase of about 14 per cent in gross investment in TV advertising, given the increase in list prices, which increased significantly last year.

The share of all stations represented by Media Club (including Atmedia stations), according to data provided by TV Prima, showed a full-day share of 34.92% last year in the 15+ and 33.15% in Group 18-69. In 15-54, TV Nova had the highest share with an all-day result of 32.41%.

Source: mediaguru.cz

CZECH TV REMAINED FIRST IN 2024, HELPED BY A YEAR OF SPORTS

Czech Television’s sports remained the most watched in 2024 in the universal audience over 15 years old. The sports year and viewer interest in the domestic hockey championship helped the result.

In 2024, Czech Television’s stations achieved the highest TV market share in the universal group over 15 years of age in all-day broadcasting. Their cumulative share exceeded the 30% threshold and reached 30.43% overall. This was half a percentage point more than in the previous year. This is according to official audience measurement data from ATO-Nielsen.

In the prime time 15+ and in the 15-54 and 18-69 audience groups in both day and evening broadcasts, the Nova group was the strongest.

The position of the main commercial groups in the 15+ audience group was balanced throughout the day last year, with the Prima group following by a narrow margin. In the other audience groups, Nova showed a higher share.

In year-on-year comparison, Czech Television channels improved the most last year, mainly due to the growth of the sports channel CT sport. It broadcast the key sporting events of the year (World Cup hockey, Euro, Paris Olympics). The growth of Atmedia also continued, reaching 6.45% in the 18-69 audience group, as did Television Seznam (1.78% in 18-69).

Share of TV groups, 2024, full day

Source: ATO-Nielsen, TV live+TS0-3 as of 1 January 2025, change shown in percentage points. Prime-time = 19:00 – 23:00

Share of TV groups, 2024, prime-time

Source: ATO-Nielsen, TV live+TS0-3 as of 1 January 2025, change shown in percentage points. Prime-time = 19:00 – 23:00

CT Sport’s Fan of the Year

The most watched TV channel remains the main channel TV Nova ahead of the first channel Czech Television and the main channel TV Prima.

In a year-on-year comparison, the sports channel ČT sport increased its share most significantly, becoming the fourth most watched channel in the country in 2024 with 4.57% (15+). This is also the highest annual performance of CT Sport since the channel started broadcasting in 2006.

In addition, Television Seznam, Prima Love, Nova Gold and Nova Action in particular recorded higher shares last year than the year before.

The top five stations with the highest share in 2024 are rounded off by CT2, which achieved its second best result in the last five years.

TOP 20 TV stations by share in 2024 (%)

Source: ATO-Nielsen, TV live+TS0-3 as of 1 January 2025. CS15+, full day

Last year, children’s channel CT 😀 also recorded its best result since it began broadcasting in 2013.

The show of the year was the hockey final

The Hockey World Cup final between Czech Republic and Switzerland was the most watched TV programme of 2024. Including computer and internet viewership, the total viewership of the final rose to 3.74 million viewers (4+). The match not only became the most-watched broadcast on CT Sport in its history, but also the most-watched programme on all TV stations since 2022.

The top programmes of the year have traditionally included the Christmas Eve fairy tale The Three Princesses, other World Cup hockey matches and Christmas stories. The most successful episodes of the dance show StarDance also approached the 2 million viewers mark.

TOP 10 TV shows of 2024

Source: ATO-Nielsen, TV Live+TS0-3 as of 1 January 2025. CS15+

Source: mediaguru.cz

Registration of AVMS providers with RRTV

Statement of the Association of Commercial Television on the registration of providers of on-demand audiovisual media services

DECEMBER 2024

Since the end of November, the issue of registration of on-demand audiovisual media service providers has been resonating in the media (such as social networks, the internet, radio and television, daily and weekly press). It has even been the subject of press conferences and is currently being discussed in the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic or the Senate of the Czech Republic.

The press release of the Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting (RRTV) of 21 November 2024, which contained routine information about RRTV’s activities for which it has a legal mandate under the applicable EU and Czech legislation, sparked discussion even at the government level.

In its press release, RRTV informed audiovisual media content creators (which may include influencers) that, following the law, it calls on them to fulfil the registration obligation if the service they provide meets the definitional criteria of an on-demand audiovisual media service (AVMS). While not required to do so, the Council proactively went beyond its statutory obligations and notified the entities concerned that if they met the statutory criteria for registration and had not yet registered in the RRTV database, they should do so promptly. Furthermore, the Council offered assistance in determining whether their service fell under the registration requirement in case there was any uncertainty. When the public authority brings to the attention of those subject to the statutory obligation that they need to comply and offers advice, this is an extraordinary and very helpful step on the part of the public authority.

In this context, we consider the following obligation of EU Member States under Article 2 (5b) of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive to be essential:

Member States shall establish and maintain an up-to-date list of the media service providers under their jurisdiction and indicate on which of the criteria set out in paragraphs 2 to 5 their jurisdiction is based. Member States shall communicate that list, including any updates thereto, to the Commission.

The Commission shall ensure that such lists are made available in a centralised database. In the event of inconsistencies between the lists, the Commission shall contact the Member States concerned in order to find a solution. The Commission shall ensure that the national regulatory authorities or bodies have access to that database. The Commission shall make information in the database publicly available.

It is imperative that it must be a high-quality and, if possible, comprehensive list.

The topic of registering influencers as on-demand AVMS providers is also regularly addressed by ERGA, which states in its report for example the following: „The Lithuanian NRA (a body comparable to the Czech RRTV) has also issued some warnings for vloggers, who refused to comply with registration obligation and even had court proceedings regarding this as one of the vloggers contested the warning at the court. After the appeal, the decision adopted by Vilnius Regional Court was in favour of the RTK and the vlogger was requested to comply with the obligations:

https://erga-online.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERGA-SG1-Vloggers-report-2023-final-version-for-publication.pdf

The affected group of natural person entrepreneurs (generalised as influencers) is a sector that fundamentally affects a large number of EU consumers (in many cases targeting a vulnerable audience of the youngest and therefore most vulnerable generations). “Influencer activity” is carried out for remuneration, regardless of its form, and very often involves the promotion of products and services in ways that are explicitly prohibited for traditional AVMS providers (TV/radio). It may also include the promotion of products and services for which all advertising activities are banned in traditional media.

On this occasion, it is worth recalling that on 14 February 2024, the European Commission published a press release on the results of a screening (“sweep”) by the EC and consumer authorities, which shows that online influencers rarely admit that what they publish is, in fact, commercial content. The sweep found that while 97% published posts with commercial content, only 20% systematically disclosed this as advertising. Out of 78% of the verified influencers exercising a commercial activity, only 36% were registered as traders. As a result of the sweep, 358 influencers were earmarked for further investigation. National authorities will now contact them to request that they follow the rules in place. The Commission will analyse the results of the sweep (also in light of the legal obligations of the platforms under the DSA) and will take the necessary enforcement action as appropriate. For the cited European Commission press release, see:

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/api/files/document/print/cs/ip_24_708/IP_24_708_EN.pdf

As evidenced not only by the aforementioned details but also by the general necessity arising from the current situation in the audiovisual market, supervision of compliance with advertising regulation is another crucial step that needs to be addressed, similar to the practices of supervisory authorities in other EU countries. In some cases, these countries enforce stricter regulations on influencers than on traditional media; the French regulation is a notable example.

The Association of Commercial Television understands the RRTV press release of 21 November 2024 as a procedure that is fully in line with Czech law and above all, with the law of the European Union, which the Czech Republic has undertaken to uphold and enforce.

UNAUTHORIZED SPORTS STREAMING SITES CLOSED AFTER CRACKDOWN

A segment of the online sports fan community mourned Monday as two popular websites known for pirating illegal streams of live sporting events displayed a message—ostensibly from their anonymous owner—that they would be “taking a break from live streaming.”

Visitors to sites called Methstreams and Crackstreams were instead encouraged to join an existing Discord community for further updates. In a sign of the sites’ following, more than 80,000 accounts were part of the Discord group—which has been around at least since 2022—as of Monday afternoon.

Methstreams previously earned attention in November, when ESPN’s Adam Schefter reposted a clip of NFL action that had originated on the site (he’d grabbed the video from another poster, rather than from the now-defunct service).

Two weeks ago, the Methstreams owner told Discord members that one of their domain names had been locked amid the ongoing battle between rightsholders and those circumventing distribution deals. Around the same time, anti-piracy organization The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) announced that it had helped shut down hundreds of websites, many based in Vietnam, that had attracted more than 800 million visits in the past year. A representative for ACE didn’t respond to a request for comment about whether those domains were part of its crackdown.

Media companies pay billions for exclusive rights to broadcast live sports, and advertisers in turn pay billions to reach the fans that are watching. The NFL’s current media deals, for example, are worth more than $125 billion; the NBA‘s most recent round is worth $77 billion. The illicit streams often come via foreign feeds, meaning the broadcasts (and the ads) are frequently not intended for U.S. audiences. In severe cases, that lost revenue could threaten the solvency of sports organizers and the events they put on.

A report from piracy-tracking firm VFT estimated that 17 million people watched the 2024 Super Bowl on illegally distributed streams.

Although Methstreams and Crackstreams have not explained why they have been taken down, a plausible reason is they are accused of copyright infringement of live sports streams and that online service providers (OSPs) have acted in accordance with their legal obligations to order takedowns.

American pro sports leagues are armed with limited tools to combat illegal streaming, which, as the Harvard Business Review recently noted, costs the global sports industry about $28 billion in annual revenue. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is the key federal statute to combat privacy. However, it is from 1998, a time when many people accessed the Internet through dial-up modems and live streaming was not available.

DMCA, leagues have argued, is too slow-moving in that it features a notice and takedown process that is ill-suited for live sports streaming. The gist of the process entails the content creator notifying an OSP (such as YouTube or Facebook) that it is running an illegal stream. The OSP is then obligated to investigate and, if necessary, act, but hours or days can pass before a stream is removed.

With live sports content, action is arguably needed within seconds, or at least minutes, since the value of the content diminishes as time passes. UFC, as well as the NBA and NFL, have urged lawmakers and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to consider measures that would obligate OSPs to act quicker and to engage in more sophisticated verification measures before permitting a user to livestream.

Blocking access to feeds distributed from overseas can be even more difficult, and often requires intervention from the internet service providers hosting or distributing said content.

A recent study in France found that more than half of the viewers for a Ligue 1 match accessed the game via illegal means. Outgoing Professional Football League Media CEO Ben Morel described piracy reaching a “dangerous tipping point” moment for the sport. France’s laws allow rightsholders to demand tech companies engage in measures to prevent serious violations of their broadcasting rights.

When Google was instructed to participate in one such push last summer, it reportedly expressed an intention to comply while pointing out that the effort’s impact would likely be negligible. Worldwide, visits to unlicensed global video sites have risen 12% since 2019 despite attempts to slow their spread, according to anti-piracy analysis platform Muso. Unlicensed sites can profit from signing their own advertising deals or collecting valuable visitor data. Some services have also attempted to charge subscribers for access to private portals.

It remains unclear whether enforcement or another motivation triggered Monday’s announcement, as the Methstreams and Crackstreams owner also teased news of a return.

While many users of the websites publicly saluted the operator for the service they provided, it wasn’t long before commenters pivoted to discussing which remaining site offered the best way to continue watching unlicensed game streams.

Source: sportico.com

PF 2025

The Association of Commercial Television together with ScreenVoice wish you a peaceful holiday season with the ones you love most and a fabulous year 2025.

ACE SHUTS DOWN ONE OF THE LARGEST LIVE SPORTS PIRACY RINGS IN THE WORLD

The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) has announced the shutdown of a notorious live sports piracy ring based in Vietnam and viewed extensively throughout the world.

Combined, the operation’s illicit sites logged 812 million visits over the past 12 months, making it one of the largest sports piracy rings in the world, and the largest sports piracy ring taken down by ACE to date. The shuttered sites include notorious sports piracy targets such as bestsolaris[dot]com, streameast[dot]to; markkystreams[dot]com; crackstreams[dot]dev; and weakspell[dot]to.

Through an intensive, global investigation, ACE identified and approached the sites’ Hanoi-based operators, who agreed to immediately transfer 138 domains to ACE.

“The shutdown of this globally notorious live sports piracy ring is a huge victory in our campaign against the piracy of live sports programs and follows other recent successful actions by ACE and law enforcement in Vietnam,” said Larissa Knapp, Executive Vice President and Chief Content Protection Officer for the Motion Picture Association (MPA). “ACE’s live sports members face a unique threat when it comes to digital piracy, as live sports broadcasts lose substantial commercial value once the game ends. The takedown serves as a warning to piracy operators everywhere – including operators in live sports piracy – that ACE will identify and shut down their illegal operations.”

Primarily targeting audiences in the US and Canada, the sites streamed sports events daily, including content from all the US sports leagues and global leagues of every category. The illicit operation affected all ACE members, including ACE’s sports tier members beIN Sports, Canal+ and DAZN.

“DAZN stands with ACE in the fight to eradicate piracy, which undermines the sports ecosystem at all levels,” said Ed McCarthy, Chief Operating Officer of DAZN. “It is very pleasing that a criminal operation of this scale was taken down. Piracy often compromises the security of fans’ data, which is then used for illegal purposes, so the closure of this piracy ring has the added benefit that potential subscribers will be guided toward legitimate content providers like DAZN.”

In a related development a Swansea bar was fined for illegally screening Sky Sports. On Tuesday, 17 December 2024, Ms. Elspeth Lerwell, the Licensee, and Mr. Richard Hole, the Sole Director of the Fairfield Social Club in Swansea, Wales, were found guilty in their absence of four offences related to the dishonest broadcast of Sky televised programming.

In this case, both Lerwell and Hole televised Sky Sports football matches with the intent to avoid payment of the applicable commercial subscription charge. Sky Sports content is only available to licensed premises in the UK via a commercial viewing agreement from Sky Business.

Ms Lerwell and Mr. Hole were ordered to pay a total of £3800 (£1,900 each) in fines and costs.

FACT brought the criminal prosecution at Swansea Magistrates’ Court against the licensee and sole director, for showing Sky Sports to customers without having valid commercial viewing agreements in place. Business premises that show Sky broadcasts without a commercial viewing agreement risk similar action, or potential civil legal action.

Source: broadbandtvnews.com

NOVA REMAINED IN THE LEAD IN NOVEMBER.

Nova TV achieved the highest share of viewership in the TV market in November.

The strongest TV group in November was Nova, across all major audience groups in all-day and prime-time. In the universal 15+ group, its aggregate share was 28.60%, 0.30 percentage points higher than Czech Television stations.

Within all-day broadcasting, Nova improved year-on-year in the 15+ and 15-69 groups, while the competing Prima group increased its share very slightly in 15-54. Both Atmedia and Televize Seznam again recorded higher shares than a year earlier.

The Czech Television stations performed better than last November in prime time, helped by the StarDance dance push.

Also in prime time, Atmedia and Television Seznam improved year-on-year.

The new programming scheme of TV Barrandov led to an improvement in the share of the younger audience group 15-54 and very slightly also in 18-69.

Share of TV groups (%), full day, November 2024

Source: ATO-Nielsen, TV live+TS0-3 9.12. 2024, prime-time = 19:00-23:00, change in percentage points

Share of TV groups (%), prime-time, November 2024

Source: ATO-Nielsen, TV live+TS0-3 9.12. 2024, prime-time = 19:00-23:00, change in percentage points

Of the individual stations, CT1 in particular had a higher share in November year-on-year, increasing it by one percentage point. Nova Gold, Televize Seznam, Nova Action, CNN Prima News (surpassing 2% share in 15+) and CT2 also performed better than last November.

The most watched TV show was StarDance (CT1), with all its November episodes (most watched on 9 November with 1.8 million 15+). This was followed by Mysterious Cases (Nova) – the most watched episode was seen by almost 1.4 million viewers – and Criminal Angel (Nova) with almost 1.3 million viewers (also the most watched episode).

Source: mediaguru.cz

FACT AND POLICE TARGET SUPPLIERS OF PIRATE FIRESTICKS

FACT, working in collaboration with police forces across the UK, are stepping up efforts to disrupt piracy operations. In a two-week enforcement operation, FACT and police targeted 30 suppliers of illegal IPTV services.

Individuals were visited in person and issued cease-and-desist warnings by post, instructing them to cease illegal activities immediately or face potential criminal prosecution. The coordinated effort focused on disrupting the distribution of illicit firesticks and other illegal streaming operations. Visits were carried out in London, Cheshire, Kent, Sussex, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, the East and West Midlands, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Northumbria, and North Yorkshire.

As part of the enforcement action, South Wales Police arrested a 42-year-old man from Newport who was suspected of involvement in illegal IPTV operations, including the sale of illicit firesticks. FACT and South Wales Police seized several digital devices, including firesticks, which are now undergoing forensic examination. The suspect remains under investigation and could face criminal charges. Additionally, FACT issued a number of takedown requests to social media platforms and online marketplaces, further disrupting illegal IPTV activity.

“Our cease-and-desist measures are not just warnings—they are the first step toward holding offenders accountable. Many who ignored these notices in the past are now facing arrest and criminal charges,”

said Kieron Sharp, CEO, FACT.

Courts are increasingly imposing severe penalties for illegal streaming operations. Last month, a private prosecution undertaken by the Premier League resulted in Jonathan Edge, a 29-year-old from Liverpool, receiving a three-year and four-month prison sentence for selling and using illicit firesticks. Despite a prior cease-and-desist warning from FACT, which he chose to ignore, Edge continued his activities. His sentence also includes a concurrent two-year and three-month term for personally accessing and viewing the pirated content he distributed.

Source: broadbandtvnews.com