Network4 is the leading provider of sports content in Hungary and its linear channels business is still growing. But it also wants to build up its OTT services and entertainment offering too, says development director Nick Doff.
One of the biggest surprises in Hungary’s TV industry in the past year was how little the landscape changed. Indeed, Nick Doff, development director at broadcaster Network4 Group, says he was expecting there to be a far quicker move away from linear TV, but it has not yet happened.
Nick Doff
Nevertheless, he adds: “We are still concerned about it and trying to make sure we have our online services all set up.”
Network4 Group, which for regulatory purposes is based in Luxembourg, traces its roots back to 2005 and the launch of Digital Media and Communications (DMC) by András Borsány-Gyenes and Finnish media group Sanoma. In 2018, Borsány-Gyenes gained full control of DMC and rebranded its four linear channels with the number 4, since when the group has gone from strength to strength.
Today, according to Doff, it is responsible for no fewer than 10 channels, with 90% of its activity taking place in Hungary. The channels include TV4, Story4, Galaxy4, Film4 and Max4. Furthermore, two of these are dedicated to sport and Network4 has become the largest sports provider for Hungarian cable and satellite homes.
“The major thing has been the development of our sports side and to become number one is quite extraordinary,” says Doff. “We came from an entertainment side, but we’ve now got two [sport] channels. One’s called Arena4, the other Match4, so you can get a feel for how different they are.
“It took us about three years to get the sports side working properly, because we had to launch it with very little coverage. We launched on Vodafone; we weren’t on Magyar Telekom or Digi. It took us far longer to get on both of those platforms and so we’ve had a very challenging time getting all that working.”
Network4 offers a variety of sports on Arena4 and Match4, including English Premier League and Bundesliga football, NFL American football, MotoGP motorcycle racing and WTA Tour women’s tennis. Significantly, it recently acquired the rights to ATP Tour men’s tennis, which according to Doff is “quite a coup” for the company. “We are going to make this something which will be very big on OTT,” he explains.
He describes the ATP as an “amazing” organisation. “They have very big outside broadcast set-ups at each of these events. And so there will be not one or two but a lot more games being made available to the services. What we’re aiming to do is to make sure all the matches available for broadcast are going to be there. That is going to be a big upgrade for us on the technical side, so that we can make sure we can stream maybe five to six matches at any one time.”
Network4 acquired rights to ATP Tour tennis competitions
Doff adds that Network4 wants to develop the OTT side of its business, both in content and technically. Its online streaming service Net4+ currently allows subscribers to watch the offer available on Arena4 and Match4, as well as exclusive live broadcasts and past events in the Net4+ library. It also includes an exclusive Bundesliga, American sports and motorsports package with, among others, Bundesliga Interactive, NFL Redzone and MotoGP Multicamera feeds.
Having established itself as Hungary’s leading sports provider, Network4 is maintaining its position by buying and future-proofing its rights. “We are doing a cycle, looking where our rights are, what’s working and making sure that we extend where possible,” says Doff.
An example of this happened in October 2023, when Network4 secured an early extension to its exclusive Bundesliga deal, adding another four seasons up until 2028/29. Its existing agreement with Bundesliga International, the league’s global commercial rights division, was not due to expire until the end of the 2024/25 season.
The rights include more than 300 Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 matches a season, plus German Cup and relegation play-off matches, with coverage in both Hungarian and English shown on Net4+ and with a handful a week on Arena4 and Match4.
Doff notes that although Network4’s entertainment side hasn’t had the benefit of the huge spend the group has made on sports, “now we’ve got all the cash coming through from sports, hopefully entertainment will start getting bigger budgets and do more interesting things.”
Indeed, Network4’s entertainment side has done “remarkably well” and continues to grow. Examples of shows that have been successful recently include Midsomer Murders on weekdays at 21.00 (2-3% market share among 18-59s); Brokenwood Mysteries on weekends at 17.00 (2-3%); Elementary on weekdays in the very competitive news slot at 18.00 (1%); Poirot and Miss Marple on weekdays at 17.00 (1%); and Familie Dr Kleist on weekdays at 16.00 (1-2%).
Crime drama Midsomer Murders proved a hit for Network4
Looking to the near future, Network4’s plans include a gameshow and possibly a talkshow. “We have also benefitted in our demographics, because historically we’ve come from female-centric channels, running things like Poirot and Miss Marple,” says Doff.
This changed following the launch of a more male-skewing, “Dave-type” channel, “which has done quite well and helped bring in a new demographic,” he adds. “What has been very interesting has been our ability to cross-promote from the sports side. Having that gives us access to a far younger demographic and a much more male-skewed demographic. We are hoping we can leverage that to an even greater extent.”
Network4 has always been “international-centric” and never bought much Hungarian programming, says Doff. Instead, its content has come from the likes of NBCUniversal and CBS/Paramount. It agreed a deal with the latter last year, “which has been useful for mainline TV and movies.” Examples of content from CBS include Women of Wrestling, Elementary, FBI, FBI: International, FBI: Most Wanted and Charmed.
Despite its business being largely focused on Hungary, where besides its own channels it operates some for Viasat, Networks4 also has a channel in the Czech Republic, called Story4 CZ. It launched in February 2023 and is aimed at female viewers by focusing on family-friendly romantic films and series. The network initially offered over 1,000 hours of programming, with a further 500 hours due to be added each year.
Story4 CZ’s content includes Convent Mysteries (from Daydreamers Worldwide), Familie Dr Kleist (Bavaria Media) and House Rules (Red Arrow Studios).
Elementary airs successfully in the tough 18.00 slot
Doff says Network4 is looking to do more in the Czech Republic and in other markets, although an anticipated launch last year was put on hold. “Wherever you look it’s incredibly competitive – the Baltics states, Bulgaria, Romania,” he explains. “And sometimes competitive to such a level that it doesn’t make any economic sense.”
Despite this, he says: “We are definitely poised for opportunities in other markets because we don’t want to be completely reliant upon Hungary to fuel our success.”
In Hungary, he believes one of the biggest recent changes that affected Network4 was the takeover of the local arm of Vodafone by the Hungarian communications company 4iG. This has been something of a mixed blessing for the group as, on the one hand, it has reduced competition – with there now being only two leading platform operators – while on the other, Magyar Telekom, which has held a dominant position, now faces a real challenger.
Looking to the future, Doff says he would like to see Network4 place more emphasis on the OTT side of its business, but adds: “When we are in a situation where we’re gaining audiences and our linear side is strengthening by the month, it’s hard to get people worried about the existential risk that I see.”
And that risk, of course, is the threat from streamers. Although the death of linear has been long forecast, a seismic change is likely to affect Central and Eastern Europe in the same way it did the US and Western Europe.
