Greece’s Cosmote TV expects continued growth in 2024, especially if piracy is tackled by new legislation and a pay TV tax scrapped by the government, says executive director of its business unit Dimitris Michalakis.
Cosmote TV, owned by Greek telco OTE Group, is the undisputed leader in the country’s pay TV market, according to Dimitris Michalakis, executive director of its business unit. Claiming more than 682,000 subscribers, its closest competitor Nova, which is part of United Group, lags behind with around 430,000.
Dimitris Michalakis
However, this is only half of the story, as Michalakis, who is also a member of OTE Group’s management board, has been instrumental in transforming the service into a full-blown standalone broadcasting unit. It consists of a streaming platform, to which around 500,000 customers have access, along with a legacy satellite TV business.
Cosmote TV currently offers 18 own-branded channels spanning such genres as sport, movies, series and history. “We are operating in the TV value chain and not outsourcing anything,” says Michalakis, “producing in our own state-of-the-art studios. We are big in production, not just series and movies but also TV shows.”
He adds that in terms of content, Cosmote TV offers all the main channels carried by other operators. There is also a strong focus on sport. “We have exclusive rights to Champions League, Europa League and the Conference League, MotoGP, NBA, Italian League (Serie A) and the majority of Greek football, which is by far the most viewed sports asset we own.”
The importance Cosmote TV places on sport was arguably demonstrated last year when it secured exclusive broadcast rights to the ATP Tour until 2026 and renewed the rights to MotoGP for a further three years. Securing exclusive sports rights, says Michalakis, acts as a driver for customer acquisition.
Yet despite this, Cosmote TV has recently been “seriously focusing on original content” and produced TV series such as The Other Me, a serial killer thriller that ran for three seasons. In January this year it also premiered 17 Threads, a six-episode period miniseries that has “already been very well accepted and is today one of the top three Greek series.”
17 Threads has been very well received by Greek viewers
A fiction production based on true events, set in 1906-1909 and about a prolific mass murderer, 17 Threads was shown exclusively on Cosmote Cinema 1 HD and immediately afterwards made available on demand.
Michalakis says that while Cosmote TV doesn’t have the budget to invest seriously in original content, there is support for Greek productions and foreign productions made in the country. “In this context we have been able to produce very good original content in terms of series and movies. And we are also running the biggest documentary channel in Greece with original productions focused on Greek history, civilisation, culture, geography and travel.”
Looking back on last year, Michalakis believes that the main development at Cosmote TV was migrating a big part of its customer base to the streaming service, which is “very important for us.”
He said: “We see it working because we see a much more serious engagement of the audience with the content. It’s obviously easier to discover content with the streaming service. This is allowing us to have happier customers because of the wider choice of content. Previously customers were telling us we don’t have enough content, but we do have enough content and they realise it.”
Significantly, Cosmote TV has a long-standing relationship with US studio Paramount Global, and this was enhanced still further last year with an agreement that will see a Paramount+ branded corner added to Cosmote TV’s streaming platform this March.
Israeli coproduction Tehran is now in its third series
Michalakis notes that competition in the Greek market is becoming more intense, with Nova, for instance, having recently upsold TV subscriptions to customers of telco Wind. Like Nova, Wind is now part of United Group. “We have also witnessed Vodafone, which is a small player in the market in Greece, offering Disney+ for free with their own service.”
Yet while the entertainment segment is growing in the Greek market, it also faces a huge problem in the form of piracy. “Not in terms of links in browsers, but media players offering a full TV service,” says Michalakis. Indeed, it is a “monthly paid form of piracy and it offers all the available content, from most streamers and Cosmote TV and Nova.”
He adds that in terms of numbers, there are currently 1,150,000 customers accessing Cosmote TV, Nova TV or Vodafone TV services. At the same time, pirate operations have a total of 600,000 customers.
Clearly this is a huge challenge for Cosmote TV, and it has been lobbying the government to pass a law by the end of February that will create a stricter framework to tackle piracy.
At the same time, there is a pay TV tax in Greece that is imposed on Greek operators but not on Netflix or Disney+. It amounts to 10% on top of VAT in the monthly subscription fee and there are rumours that it will shortly be revoked.
Describing it as a “very unfavourable situation” for the local industry, Michalakis states “we also hope the government can sort it out in the next couple of months.”
Michalakis believes that if the anti-piracy law is passed it will eventually allow Cosmote TV to attract more customers and lead to further growth. However, he also feels that there needs to be some rationalisation in the market “because in my opinion this kind of competition will not create sustainability for all operators. It doesn’t make sense.”
Original series The Other Me ran for three seasons
Looking to the future, Cosmote TV will focus on further improving its streaming service and potentially cooperating with other streamers. This would involve bundling with Cosmote TV and at the same time trying to rationalise its cost base.
Furthermore, the scrapping of the 10% pay TV tax will allow it to pass the saving on to customers.
Michalakis also reveals that Cosmote TV is about to embark on an international coproduction, with shooting due to start at the end of April. However, he is unable to say any more at this stage due a confidentiality agreement.
He cites another original coproduction, Israeli series Tehran, staring Glen Close, which is now in its third season and in which Cosmote TV is involved, alongside Apple TV+, Israeli broadcaster Kan and Cineflix Rights. “This is another business that we’re into,” adds Michalakis. “We’re also providing production services and coproducing projects that we believe have a good return on investment for us.”
Yet while coproduction is a revenue stream, “it’s tougher for us in Greece because of the competition we face. Trying to allocate resources to the non-core business is getting more difficult. There’s this internal fight for allocation of resources and whenever we’re in a coproduction it’s bitty. We don’t go for volume but something that we believe will create a return for us.”
Cosmote TV grew by more than 5% in 2023 and Michalakis believes it will continue to register growth if piracy is addressed and the pay TV tax revoked. Despite facing the same challenges that all pay TV operators face around the world, Michalakis believes the company remains on “very good ground” and could well have another good year in 2024.
