“Czechflix” is about to fall. CT, Prima and Nova could create a joint video library – AVmania.cz

iVys Broadcasting, iPrima and the novice Voyo could eventually merge their archives in one place, which the head of Czech Television nicknames Czechflix. Petr Dvořák is the main initiator of the project, which should create a counterpoint to global services such as Netflix, HBO Max or Disney +, which are popular but do not form the original Czech content.

Dvořák talked about his vision in an interview for Euro Weekly. Czech Television is currently negotiating with Prima, but the local director Marek Singer is in favor Mediator he admitted it was a long run. Discussions with Nova do not seem to be going on yet, but the ink on the takeover contract only recently dried up when Kellner’s PPF bought the television.

Earlier negotiations may have prevented the fact that the two most watched commercial televisions belonged largely to foreign media groups. Until 2017, half of Prima was owned by the Swedish Modern Times Group. Half of Nova then, through several intermediaries, fell under American Time Warner (now WarnerMedia), owners of Warner Bros., HBO, Cinemax, etc.

Czechflix’s vision is that viewers could watch the rich archives of domestic television under one roof, including the benefit of exclusive online premieres.

An example could be the Britbox service, in which the British public television BBC and the local number one commercial ITV met. A similar project was created in the past in the USA under the name Hulu. The joint archive was built by several commercial televisions, but Hulu also hosted content from the public PBS.

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