Discovery partners on global Polish OTT

US factual giant Discovery and Polish pay TV provider Cyfrowy Polsat are teaming up to launch a global streaming service targeting Polish speakers.

Kasia Kieli

The as-yet-unnamed OTT service will offer Polish movies, series, docs, sports and entertainment, with local productions supplied by Polish broadcasters TVN and Polsat.

Content will also be acquired for the service and sit alongside original commissions and partners wishing to supply content are being sought.

A statement from the two companies today said the service would initially launch as an AVoD service but the ambition is to eventually role out an SVoD component as well.

The two firms have existing digital assets in Poland. The Player.pl (owned by TVN Discovery Polska) and Ipla.tv (owned by Cyfrowy Polsat) will continue to be available to viewers and decisions on their future shape and role will be decided in due course.

Discovery took ownership of Polish commercial broadcaster TVN as part of its 2018 takeover of Scripps Networks Interactive.

The launch follows a similar partnership in Germany, where Discovery paired with ProSiebenSat.1 to launch streaming service Joyn over the summer.

Kasia Kieli, president and CEO of Discovery EMEA, said: “This new venture fits squarely into our international strategy and belief that local broadcasters need to better satisfy consumer demand by aggregating their offerings and developing a strong local-content-led streaming service, just as we did in Germany with Joyn.”

Maciej Stec, deputy president for strategy at Cyfrowy Polsat and Polkomtel, added: “We are glad to be co-creating a project which is likely to become a real alternative to international OTTs. Our ambition is for the platform to offer the best and most advanced technological solutions. It is especially important that this project has the capability to bring Polish content to international viewers.”