Television in Poland was introduced in 1937. It was state owned, and was interrupted by the Second World War in 1939. Television returned to Poland in 1952 and for several decades was controlled by the communist government. Colour television was introduced in Poland in 1971. Private television stations in Poland appeared around the time of the fall of communism, with PTV Echo (once a member of the local channels of Polonia 1) becoming the first private station in Poland (and in the former Eastern Bloc).
Terrestrial
Terrestrial television in Poland is broadcast using a digital DVB-T system. First test DVB-T emission was carried in Warsaw at 9 November 2001. In April 2004, first DVB-T transmitter near Rzeszów started operation, and local TVP division started to market set-top boxes allowing to receive it. As of December 2011, there are about 50 DVB-T transmitters operating in Poland, broadcasting three multiplexes, all using MPEG-4 AVC compression. There are also plans to broadcast HD channels over DVB-T. Analog terrestrial transmissions were terminated in 2013.First efforts to introduce DVB-T in Poland was made in 1997 in Gdańsk on initiative of TVP (Polish public television broadcaster).
Allocation
At 2006 conference in Geneva known as GE06 Poland received eight DVB-T multiplexes—seven at UHF frequencies 470÷862 MHz (channels 21÷69) and one at VHF frequency 174÷230 MHz (channels 6÷12). Since some of these frequencies are currently used for analog PAL terrestrial television broadcasting, it is possible to run only two nationwide multiplexes (MUX1, MUX2) and one (MUX3) which covers part of country (58% of population). Introduction of all multiplexes will be possible after switching off analog broadcasting.A Government document entitled “Country digitalization schedule”, dated January 2009, set out plan for the digital broadcast switch-on to be made in three steps and analog broadcast switch-off in six steps.
First regular digital broadcast started on 30 September 2010. Analog broadcast switch-off started on 7 November 2012 and the transition to digital broadcasting finished on 23 July 2013.
The period of time between digital broadcast switch-on and analog broadcast switch-off will allow people time to buy new integrated Digital TVs or set-top boxes.
Current status
As of July 2013:- MUX1 covers 98.8% of population;
- MUX2 covers more than 98.8% of population;
- MUX3 covers 99.5% of population.
Analog shutdown
The shutdown of analog broadcast took place in 7 steps between 7 November 2012 and 23 July 2013.Most operators of analog cable TV are planning to continue providing analog service in their networks for an unspecified period of time.
Additional government actions
Information campaigns about analog broadcast switch-off in mass media.Requiring electronic equipment sellers to inform buyers that MPEG-2 TVs and STBs are not compatible with national standard which is MPEG-4 AVC.
Financial help for poor families and seniors to buy TV or STB – ca. 250 PLN per household, totalling 475 million PLN.
Technical information
Polish digital terrestrial television broadcast uses 25 Hz H.264/AVC HDTV video, MPEG-2 Layer 2 and E-AC-3 audio, for a Baseline IRD able to decode up to 1920 × 1080 interlaced 25 Hz video pictures or 1280 × 720 progressive 50 Hz video pictures.During tests also MPEG-2 encoding for video was used.
Assignment of channels in multiplexes
Plan from January 2009 included three nationwide multiplexes with seven SDTV channels in each:- MUX1 – current free-to-air terrestrial analog channels which are commercial (Polsat, TVN, TV4, TV Puls); after analog broadcast switch-off MUX3 covered the entire country population and public channels moved to it; there was competition for three freed channels;
- MUX2 – open competition;
- MUX3 – public broadcaster; after analog broadcast switch-off MUX3 will cover all country population and public channels will be moved to it from MUX1; there will be competition for three freed channels in MUX1.
- MUX1 – public broadcaster channels (including current analog TVP1, TVP2, TVP Regionalna);
- MUX2 – current terrestrial analog commercial free-to-air channels (Polsat, TVN, TV4, TV Puls) plus one additional from each broadcaster – total number of channels in this multiplex: 8.
- MUX1 – four channels chosen in open competition and temporary three public broadcaster channels (TVP1, TVP2, TVP Regionalna); after analog broadcast switch-off MUX3 will cover all country population and public channels will be deleted from MUX1; there will be competition for three freed channels;
- MUX2 – four current terrestrial analog commercial free-to-air channels (Polsat, TVN, TV4, TV Puls) plus one additional from each broadcaster (respectively: Polsat Sport News, TVN7, TV6, Puls 2);
- MUX3 – six public broadcaster channels (TVP1, TVP2, TVP Regionalna, TVP Culture, TVP History, TVP Entertainment and planned TVP Documentary); after switch-off analog broadcast MUX3 will cover all country population and public broadcaster channels will be deleted from MUX1.
MUX1
| MUX1 | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Channel | Owner | Type | |||||||||
| TVP ABC | Telewizja Polska | Children | |||||||||
| Stopklatka TV | Agora SA, SPI International Polska | Movies | |||||||||
| TV Trwam | Lux Veritatis Foundation | Religion | |||||||||
| ATM Rozrywka | ATM Grupa (Polsat Group) | Entertainment | |||||||||
| TTV | Stavka (ITI Group) | Social-intervention | |||||||||
| Fokus TV | TV Spektrum (ZPR SA) | Documentaries | |||||||||
| Eska TV | Grupa Radiowa Time (ZPR SA) | Music | |||||||||
| Polo TV | Lemon Records (ZPR SA) | Music | |||||||||
MUX2
| MUX2 | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Channel | Owner | Type | |||||||||
| Polsat | Polsat Group | General | |||||||||
| TVN | ITI Group | General | |||||||||
| TV4 | Polsat Group (earlier Polskie Media) | General | |||||||||
| TV Puls | Telewizja Puls | General | |||||||||
| Polsat Sport News | Polsat Group | Sport/News | |||||||||
| TVN7 | ITI Group | Entertainment | |||||||||
| TV6 | Polsat Group (earlier Polskie Media) | Entertainment | |||||||||
| Puls 2 | Telewizja Puls | Entertainment | |||||||||
MUX3
| MUX3 | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Channel | Owner | Type | |||||||||
| TVP1 HD | Telewizja Polska | General | |||||||||
| TVP2 HD | Telewizja Polska | General | |||||||||
| TVP Regionalna |
Telewizja Polska | Regional | |||||||||
| TVP Info | Telewizja Polska | News | |||||||||
| TVP Kultura | Telewizja Polska | Cultural | |||||||||
| TVP Historia | Telewizja Polska | Historical | |||||||||
| TVP Rozrywka | Telewizja Polska | Entertainment | |||||||||
| TVP Polonia | Telewizja Polska | Worldwide | |||||||||
MUX4
| TV Mobilna - pay multiplex | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Channel | Owner | Type | |||||||||
| Polsat News | Polsat Group | News | |||||||||
| Polsat Sport | Polsat Group | Sport | |||||||||
| Polsat Sport Extra | Polsat Group | Sport | |||||||||
| Polsat Film | Polsat Group | Movies | |||||||||
| Kino Polska | SPI International Polska | Movies | |||||||||
| TVP Seriale | Telewizja Polska | Series | |||||||||
| Comedy Central | MTV Networks | Series | |||||||||
| Nickelodeon | MTV Networks | Children | |||||||||
Satellite
In 1998, two DVB-S providers, Cyfra+ and Wizja TV started operation. In 2001, Wizja TV was merged into Cyfra+.1999 saw the introduction of another platform, Polsat 2 Cyfrowy (later renamed to Polsat Cyfrowy and finally Cyfrowy Polsat), owned by Polsat, a major Polish commercial TV network[citation needed]. These platforms become very popular, and today, there are no Polish channels available on analogue satellite (the last one, TVN, was switched off in 2008). However, most of the satellite broadcasts in Poland are in SDTV resolution.
On 12 October 2006, ITI launched the n platform with few HD channels available, as well as - also new in Poland - video on demand functionality. Later, in December 2006, Cyfra+ also started HD broadcasts. Cyfrowy Polsat started HD broadcasts in second half of 2007.
In March 2013, as part of deeper cooperation between Canal+ Group and ITI, Cyfra+ and N were merged into NC+.
Other technologies
Some of the biggest cable operators started to provide DVB-C channels in few cities. However, most of the cable networks currently operating in Poland are purely analogue.[citation needed]The largest telephone operator, Telekomunikacja Polska, introduced a new option to its Neostrada offer, the Videostrada. It allows to receive digital TV, available are most of Cyfra+ channels (the platform is known as Cyfra+DSL), as well as video on demand. It is currently available only in few biggest cities in Poland.
Several TV channels, as well as video on demand, are available in Polish mobile telephony networks. There are no currently operating dedicated mobile TV transmitters.