Communications in Romania
Encyclopedia
Reporters Without Borders
ranks Romania 58th in its Worldwide Press Freedom Index, the same level as Poland and Hong-Kong. The public television company Televiziunea Română
and the public radio Societatea Română de Radiodifuziune cover all the country and have also international programs. The state also owns a public news agency ROMPRES
. The private media is grouped in media companies such as Intact Media Group
, Media Pro
, Realitatea-Caţavencu
, Ringier
, SBS Broadcasting Group
, Centrul Naţional Media
and other smaller independent companies. Cable television
is widely available in almost all villages, and some have even adopted Digital television. It offers besides the national channels a great number of international and specialized channels. FM stations
cover most cities and most of them belong to national radio networks. Overall readership of most newspapers is slowly declining due to increasing competition from television and the Internet. Tabloids
and sport newspapers are among the most read national newspapers. In every large city there is at least one local newspaper, which usually covers the rest of the county. An Audit Bureau of Circulations was established in 1998 and today represents a large number of publications.
has one of the most dynamic media markets in southeastern Europe. TV is the medium of choice for most Romanians. State-owned TVR
and the private stations Pro TV
and Antena 1 command the lion's share of viewing, however there is a large number of smaller, private stations, some of them part of local networks. The state broadcaster, TVR
, operates a second national network, TVR 2
, and a pan-European satellite channel. Pay TV channels have a smaller but significant audience.
The first private radio stations appeared in 1990; there are now more than 100 of them. State-run Radio Romania operates four national networks and regional and local stations. BBC World Service
is available on 88 FM in the capital, and is relayed in Timişoara (93.9) , Sibiu (88.4) and Constanta (96.9).
Most households in Bucharest have cable TV. There are hundreds of cable distributors offering access to Romanian, European and other stations.
Romania's newspaper market thrived after the 1989 revolution, but many newspapers subsequently closed because of rising costs.
The 1991 constitution upholds freedom of expression, but prohibits "defamation of the country".
In 2007 the media rights body Reporters Without Borders praised reforms to the criminal code; journalists can no longer be jailed on defamation charges.
In November 2008, the number of registered .ro domains was over 340,000, of which 315,000 were active. This represents an increase of 50% in a single year.
The domestic network offers good, modern services in urban areas; 98% of telephone network is automatic while 71% is digitized; trunk network is mostly fiber-optic cable and radio relay; about 80% of exchange capacity is digital. Roughly 3,300 villages have outdated or no service.
International service data:
The combined (fixed+mobile) telephone penetration rate is 108.3%.
See also Romania Telephone Area Codes
.
Romtelecom
is the dominant fixed line provider (around 80% of the market share) and the only POTS
provider. Other providers are RCS&RDS
and UPC Romania.
cards active in the first half of 2007. There are three GSM cellular networks (Orange, Vodafone and Cosmote) covering more than 85% of the territory (about 98% of the population), one UMTS only (Digi.Mobil) as well as two CDMA networks (Zapp and Romtelecom). Three networks, meaning Vodafone
, Orange
and Digi.Mobil
also provide UMTS (3G) services, and soon Zapp
will follow, the network being under testing at the moment. Mobile telephony had an 108% penetration rate in March 2008. See list of mobile network operators for market share data.
broadcast
stations:
AM 40, FM 202, shortwave 3 (1998)
Radio sets:
12.1 million (2005)
broadcast stations:
130 (plus about 400 low-power repeaters) (1997)
Television sets:
11.35 million (2005)
Romanian television is dominated by a small number of corporations, owning multiple TV channels as well as radio stations, newspapers and media agencies. Their television business is structured around a flagship channel and a number of smaller specialized, niche
channels.
The biggest corporations of this kind are:
Additionally, there is a public television service operated by Televiziunea Română
with 4 channels (TVR 1
, TVR 2
, TVR Cultural
and TVR i
and there are many localized or franchised international channels (such as HBO, MTV
, Cinemax
, AXN
, Cartoon Network
). Furthermore, there are a few independent and local broadcasters.
Two private stations, Pro TV
and Antena 1, are market leaders, sharing about 32% of the market, with public television in the third place. A feature of Romanian Television after 2000 was the boom of specialized channels - such as soap opera
and telenovela
channels (Acasă TV, Romantica
, Antena 4 - Euforia lifestyle TV), sport channels (such as Sport.ro
and Telesport
), talk channels (Antena 2
) news channels (Realitatea TV
, Antena 3
and N24
), different movie genres or documentary types, and even specializing on different musical styles (UTV Romania
and MTV
being geared toward club, dance and hip-hop music, whereas Favorit TV
and Etno TV towards folklore
, and Taraf TV towards manele
). Teleshopping channels, lifestyle and weather channels, and special channels dedicated for display in public areas (such as waiting areas, airports, train stations, banks, supermarkets) additionally exist.
Television broadcasts and cable television
, frequency
allocations, content monitoring and license allocation are done by the National Audiovisual Council (Consiliul Naţional al Audiovizualului (CNA)).
Romania
has very high penetration rates for cable television in Europe
, with over 79% of all households watching television through a CATV network in 2007. The market is extremely dynamic, and dominated by two giant companies - Romania
n based RCS&RDS
and United States
based UPC-Astral. Both additionally offer IP telephony over coaxial cable and Internet
services. The national CATV network is being improved, and most households are being migrated towards digital cable solutions. Digital DTH
satellite service is available throughout the country, and accounts for an additional 10-15% of the market, with only about 5% being attributed to terrestrial analogue television. Digital satellite DTH is provided by a number of companies. Most TV channels only broadcast via cable.
Broadcast television is very limited because of the high penetration of cable, only TVR 1
, TVR 2
, Antena 1 and Pro TV
are available as analogue broadcasts. In some areas, only TVR 1
is available, and in others, there is no broadcast signal while there are cable operators. Furthermore, although the transmission systems are still functional, receiving aerials in many places have long since been dismantled or are unmaintained. Although tests are being performed in Bucharest
it is possible that Romania will not migrate to digital terrestrial systems, but completely discontinue this service, and sell the available spectrum for other purposes, since the said investments provide limited appeal. It is expected that by 2010, only 5% of the population will watch television via broadcast, making it possible to completely switch off the network.
The reasons for the appeal for cable started in the early '90s. After the fall of the communist regime
, in 1989, there were only two state owned TV channels available (see TVR
), one only being available in about 20% of the country. Private TV channels were slow to appear, because of lack of experience and high start-up costs (most startups were radio stations or newspapers). Thus, for the first three years, over the air, one would get one or two state channels and one or two local, amateurish private channels, broadcasting only a few hours a day. In this environment, cable TV companies appeared and thrived, providing 15-20 foreign channels for a very low price (at the time 2 USD or less), some with Romanian translation, offering high quality news, entertainment and especially movies or cartoons (one of the ways cable companies advertised was the availability of a cartoon channel, Cartoon Network
, appealing to children, which in turn would appeal to their parents). The first two companies to provide CATV were Multicanal in Bucharest
and Timiş Cablu in Timişoara
, both out of business today. Many small, startup firms gradually grew, and coverage increased (coverage wars were frequent in the early period, with many cable boxes smashed, and new cable networks offering "half off for twice the channels" and immediately wiring the building for any willing persons). However, this period soon ended, with consolidation around 1995-1996. Some large companies emerged: Kappa and RCS in Bucharest, Astral in [Cluj-Napoca|[Cluj]], UPC in Timişoara, TourImex in Râmnicu Vâlcea
. This consolidation came with gentlemen agreements over areas of control and pricing, with claims of monopoly abounding. This process of consolidation was completed around 2005-2006, when only two big suppliers of cable remained: UPC-Astral and RDS. Internet over coaxial cable has been available since around 2000, and IP telephony (over the CATV infrastructure) since the deregulation of the market in 2003. Currently, cable TV is available in most of the country, including most rural areas (where roughly 40% of the population lives). Satellite digital TV appeared in 2004, providing coverage for the rest of the country, with both RCS&RDS and UPC-Astral having a stake in these companies. IPTV (over DSL) is also planned by Romtelecom
through its TV service (Dolce), after offering Satellite digital DTH TV. However, IPTV will not be much of a competition, since the other two big ISPs are also the two biggest CATV providers.
Cable TV is very cheap for all standards, the standard/basic service, offering about 50 channels, is around 20-30 RON/month including VAT
(about 7-10 €), with the most expensive service, offering 10-15 channels more, including some pay-per-view
such as HBO or Cinemax
, costing no more than 60-70 RON/month (around 20-23 €).
Romania uses PAL
B/G for analogue cable and broadcast television, but see above.
Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders is a France-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press. It was founded in 1985, by Robert Ménard, Rony Brauman and the journalist Jean-Claude Guillebaud. Jean-François Julliard has served as Secretary General since 2008...
ranks Romania 58th in its Worldwide Press Freedom Index, the same level as Poland and Hong-Kong. The public television company Televiziunea Română
Televiziunea Româna
Televiziunea Română , more commonly referred to as TVR , is the short name for Societatea Românǎ de Televiziune ; acronym: SRTV. SRTV is the national state-owned public service television broadcaster of Romania...
and the public radio Societatea Română de Radiodifuziune cover all the country and have also international programs. The state also owns a public news agency ROMPRES
ROMPRES
-History:The agency was founded with the name AGERPRES, standing for "Romanian Press Agency" After 1989 the agency changed its name to ROMPRES ....
. The private media is grouped in media companies such as Intact Media Group
Intact (group of companies)
INTACT is the first Romanian media group based entirely on a private local business. A considerable number of the most important brands in the audio-visual and print industry have been launched under this umbrella since its first product, Intact Printing House was established in 1991.- Television...
, Media Pro
Pro TV
Launched in December 1995, Pro TV reaches almost 99% of Romania’s 21.5 million people and has 48% of its broadcast schedule comprising locally-produced programs...
, Realitatea-Caţavencu
Realitatea-Catavencu
The Realitatea-Caţavencu trust is a Romanian group of media companies, owned by Sorin-Ovidiu Vântu . It was founded when Vântu bought the Caţavencu media group, who, as they declared, at that time it was unable do develop further by itself...
, Ringier
Ringier
Ringier AG is one of the largest media corporations in Switzerland founded in Zofingen and based in Zürich. It publishes several newspapers and magazines in both German and French...
, SBS Broadcasting Group
SBS Broadcasting Group
SBS Broadcasting Group was a European broadcasting group, operating commercial television, premium pay channels, radio stations and related print businesses in Western and Central and Eastern Europe...
, Centrul Naţional Media
National TV
Naţional TV is the first TV channel of the Centrul Naţional Media, owned by the Micula brothers....
and other smaller independent companies. Cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
is widely available in almost all villages, and some have even adopted Digital television. It offers besides the national channels a great number of international and specialized channels. FM stations
FM broadcasting
FM broadcasting is a broadcasting technology pioneered by Edwin Howard Armstrong which uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity sound over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" describes the "frequency band in which FM is used for broadcasting"...
cover most cities and most of them belong to national radio networks. Overall readership of most newspapers is slowly declining due to increasing competition from television and the Internet. Tabloids
Tabloid journalism
Tabloid journalism tends to emphasize topics such as sensational crime stories, astrology, gossip columns about the personal lives of celebrities and sports stars, and junk food news...
and sport newspapers are among the most read national newspapers. In every large city there is at least one local newspaper, which usually covers the rest of the county. An Audit Bureau of Circulations was established in 1998 and today represents a large number of publications.
Overview
RomaniaRomania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
has one of the most dynamic media markets in southeastern Europe. TV is the medium of choice for most Romanians. State-owned TVR
TVR
thumb|right|240px|TVR No.2, the oldest surviving TVR, located at [[Lakeland Motor Museum, Newby Bridge, Cumbria]]TVR was an independent British manufacturer of sports cars. Until 2006 it was based in the English seaside town of Blackpool, Lancashire, but has since split up into several smaller...
and the private stations Pro TV
Pro TV
Launched in December 1995, Pro TV reaches almost 99% of Romania’s 21.5 million people and has 48% of its broadcast schedule comprising locally-produced programs...
and Antena 1 command the lion's share of viewing, however there is a large number of smaller, private stations, some of them part of local networks. The state broadcaster, TVR
TVR
thumb|right|240px|TVR No.2, the oldest surviving TVR, located at [[Lakeland Motor Museum, Newby Bridge, Cumbria]]TVR was an independent British manufacturer of sports cars. Until 2006 it was based in the English seaside town of Blackpool, Lancashire, but has since split up into several smaller...
, operates a second national network, TVR 2
TVR 2
TVR2, Televiziunea Română 2 , is the second channel of the public broadcaster TVR.The channel was created in 1968, but it was suspended from 1985 until after the fall of the Communist regime in 1989...
, and a pan-European satellite channel. Pay TV channels have a smaller but significant audience.
The first private radio stations appeared in 1990; there are now more than 100 of them. State-run Radio Romania operates four national networks and regional and local stations. BBC World Service
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
is available on 88 FM in the capital, and is relayed in Timişoara (93.9) , Sibiu (88.4) and Constanta (96.9).
Most households in Bucharest have cable TV. There are hundreds of cable distributors offering access to Romanian, European and other stations.
Romania's newspaper market thrived after the 1989 revolution, but many newspapers subsequently closed because of rising costs.
The 1991 constitution upholds freedom of expression, but prohibits "defamation of the country".
In 2007 the media rights body Reporters Without Borders praised reforms to the criminal code; journalists can no longer be jailed on defamation charges.
Numbers
According to europaworld.com, in 2004 there were:- radio users: 5,369,000
- television users: 5,822,000
- telephones (main lines in use): 4,390,800 (2005)
- mobile cellular phones (subscribers): 22,000,000 (2008)
- personal computers: 2,450,000
- internet users: 4,500,000
- book production (inclusively pamphlets): 13,288,000 titles and 9,288,000 copies
- daily newspapers: 84
- other periodicals: 2,036
In November 2008, the number of registered .ro domains was over 340,000, of which 315,000 were active. This represents an increase of 50% in a single year.
Telephony
Romania has rapidly improving domestic and international services, especially in wireless telephony.The domestic network offers good, modern services in urban areas; 98% of telephone network is automatic while 71% is digitized; trunk network is mostly fiber-optic cable and radio relay; about 80% of exchange capacity is digital. Roughly 3,300 villages have outdated or no service.
International service data:
- satelliteSatelliteIn the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
country code: 40; - satellite earth station: 10 (IntelsatIntelsatIntelsat, Ltd. is a communications satellite services provider.Originally formed as International Telecommunications Satellite Organization , it was—from 1964 to 2001—an intergovernmental consortium owning and managing a constellation of communications satellites providing international broadcast...
4); - digital, international, direct-dial exchanges operate in Bucharest.
The combined (fixed+mobile) telephone penetration rate is 108.3%.
See also Romania Telephone Area Codes
Romania telephone area codes
As of 2002 the area codes are county codes. They are formed by 1 for Bucharest and Ilfov County, and two digits for the rest of the country...
.
Land lines
There are 4,106,000 main lines in use (June 2007).Romtelecom
Romtelecom
Romtelecom is the largest telecommunications company in Romania; the majority of shares are held by the Greek telecommunications company OTE . The Romanian state also has a minority stake of 45.99% in the company. The company had a monopoly for the provision of fixed telephony services until...
is the dominant fixed line provider (around 80% of the market share) and the only POTS
Plain old telephone service
Plain old telephone service is the voice-grade telephone service that remains the basic form of residential and small business service connection to the telephone network in many parts of the world....
provider. Other providers are RCS&RDS
RCS&RDS
RCS&RDS is the largest Romanian cable and internet provider, offering nationwide satellite television, cable television, cable internet, VOIP, and 3G services...
and UPC Romania.
Mobile
There were 19,500,000 SIMSubscriber Identity Module
A subscriber identity module or subscriber identification module is an integrated circuit that securely stores the International Mobile Subscriber Identity and the related key used to identify and authenticate subscriber on mobile telephony devices .A SIM is held on a removable SIM card, which...
cards active in the first half of 2007. There are three GSM cellular networks (Orange, Vodafone and Cosmote) covering more than 85% of the territory (about 98% of the population), one UMTS only (Digi.Mobil) as well as two CDMA networks (Zapp and Romtelecom). Three networks, meaning Vodafone
Vodafone Romania
Vodafone is a Romanian mobile phone network operator. It launched in April 1997 as the first GSM network in Romania...
, Orange
Orange România
Orange România is Romania's largest GSM network operator, the subsidiary of Orange SA. It is now fully owned by the France Télécom Group , the biggest initial investor, who gradually increased its ownership....
and Digi.Mobil
RCS&RDS
RCS&RDS is the largest Romanian cable and internet provider, offering nationwide satellite television, cable television, cable internet, VOIP, and 3G services...
also provide UMTS (3G) services, and soon Zapp
Zapp Mobile
Zapp Mobile is the first CDMA 450 MHz mobile phone operator in Romania, now part of Cosmote. Zapp has around 200,000 subscribers left, giving the CDMA network around 1% market share, and the number is declining because of migration of the customers to other GSM or UMTS networks...
will follow, the network being under testing at the moment. Mobile telephony had an 108% penetration rate in March 2008. See list of mobile network operators for market share data.
Radio
RadioRadio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
broadcast
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
stations:
AM 40, FM 202, shortwave 3 (1998)
Radio sets:
12.1 million (2005)
Television
TelevisionTelevision
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
broadcast stations:
130 (plus about 400 low-power repeaters) (1997)
Television sets:
11.35 million (2005)
Romanian television is dominated by a small number of corporations, owning multiple TV channels as well as radio stations, newspapers and media agencies. Their television business is structured around a flagship channel and a number of smaller specialized, niche
Niche market
A niche market is the subset of the market on which a specific product is focusing; therefore the market niche defines the specific product features aimed at satisfying specific market needs, as well as the price range, production quality and the demographics that is intended to impact...
channels.
The biggest corporations of this kind are:
- Intact Media Group (with Antena 1-Antena 5),
- Central European Media EnterprisesCentral European Media EnterprisesCentral European Media Enterprises is a Bermuda-based vertically integrated company. Founded by Ronald Lauder, it owns broadcast, content and new media operations in Central and Eastern Europe...
(with Pro TVPro TVLaunched in December 1995, Pro TV reaches almost 99% of Romania’s 21.5 million people and has 48% of its broadcast schedule comprising locally-produced programs...
, AcasăAcasaAcasă is a television channel operated by the Central European Media Enterprises that broadcasts in Romania. It is mostly dedicated to daytime telenovelas, family movies, news, talk shows, soap operas and entertainment.-Telenovelas:-External links:*...
, Pro CinemaPRO CinemaPRO Cinema is a Romanian movie channel that is owned by Central European Media Enterprises and launched on April 19, 2004. It was the first Romanian TV channel dedicated exclusively to movies, and as such it attracted a significant audience from its very inception, mainly in the 18-49 urban...
, Pro TV InternaţionalPro TV InternationalPRO TV Internaţional is a Romanian TV network owned by PRO TV Group. It is the international service of PRO TV and broadcasts programmes of PRO TV, Acasă TV and PRO Cinema to Romanian audiences abroad in Europe, North America, and Israel.-Coverage:...
and Sport.roSport.roSport.ro is a private channel in Romania, launched on July 27, 2003 and dedicated entirely to sports. Sport.ro reaches nearly 64% of the population of 21.5 million inhabitants of Romania and its broadcast schedule contains domestic and international sporting events...
) - Realitatea-CatavencuRealitatea-CatavencuThe Realitatea-Caţavencu trust is a Romanian group of media companies, owned by Sorin-Ovidiu Vântu . It was founded when Vântu bought the Caţavencu media group, who, as they declared, at that time it was unable do develop further by itself...
(with Realitatea TVRealitatea TVRealitatea TV is a Romanian news television network. The channel is distributed by many cable operators in Romania and Moldova. Its main owner is Romanian businessman Elan Schwartzenberg....
, RomanticaRomantica-Track listing:# "Lovedust" – 4:00# "Weird and Woozy" – 3:12# "Black Postcards" – 5:12# "Black Champagne" – 3:34# "Swedish Fish" – 2:54# "Renée Is Crying" – 3:13# "Mermaid Eyes" – 3:31...
and The Money ChannelThe Money ChannelThe Money Channel is the second TV channel of Realitatea Media media group, owned by Sorin-Ovidiu Vântu. The first TV channel of the media group is Realitatea TV, the first Romanian news channel.The Money Channel is the first business TV channel in Romania...
) - Centrul Naţional MediaCentrul National MediaCentrul National Media is a Romanian group of media companies, owned by the Micula family.- Member companies :As of May 2007, the companies that are part of the group are:Television* Naţional TV* N24* Favorit TV* Transilvania TV ...
(with Naţional TVNational TVNaţional TV is the first TV channel of the Centrul Naţional Media, owned by the Micula brothers....
, N24N24 (Romania)N24 Plus is a TV channel in Romania. It is owned by Centrul Naţional Media, property of the Micula brothers.Until January 2010 it was labeled N24 and it was a news channel....
and Favorit TVFavorit TVFavorite TV is a Romanian folk music channel located in Bucharest owned by Centrul National Media.-External links:*...
) - SBS Broadcasting GroupSBS Broadcasting GroupSBS Broadcasting Group was a European broadcasting group, operating commercial television, premium pay channels, radio stations and related print businesses in Western and Central and Eastern Europe...
(with Prima TVPrima TVPrima TV is a Romanian commercial TV channel, famous mainly for the Cronica Cârcotaşilor show and various reality shows.-Start:Prima TV was launched as one of the first commercial television stations in Romania in December 1997...
and Kiss TVKiss TVKiss TV is a commercial music television channel from Box Television, available on the Sky and Virgin Media digital television platforms. The playlist predominantly consists of mainstream hip-hop, Dance and R&B...
).
Additionally, there is a public television service operated by Televiziunea Română
Televiziunea Româna
Televiziunea Română , more commonly referred to as TVR , is the short name for Societatea Românǎ de Televiziune ; acronym: SRTV. SRTV is the national state-owned public service television broadcaster of Romania...
with 4 channels (TVR 1
TVR 1
TVR1 is the main channel of the Romanian public broadcaster TVR.The most important show of the channel is Jurnalul TVR, whose motto is Jurnalul aşa cum ar trebui sǎ fie! , but on 28 March 2009 was replaced by Telejurnal...
, TVR 2
TVR 2
TVR2, Televiziunea Română 2 , is the second channel of the public broadcaster TVR.The channel was created in 1968, but it was suspended from 1985 until after the fall of the Communist regime in 1989...
, TVR Cultural
TVR Cultural
TVR Cultural is the cultural channel of Romania's government-funded television network Televiziunea Română. It provides cultural news, documentaries about the arts, as well as various shows, musicals and theatrical pieces.-References:*...
and TVR i
TVR i
TVR Internaţional is the international channel of Televiziunea Română, Romania's government-funded television network. TVR International provides free-to-air 24-hour broadcast throughout Europe, Canada and the US...
and there are many localized or franchised international channels (such as HBO, MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
, Cinemax
Cinemax
Cinemax, sometimes abbreviated as simply "Max", is a collection of premium television networks that broadcasts primarily feature films, along with softcore erotica, original action series, documentaries and special behind-the-scenes features. Cinemax is operated by Home Box Office, Inc., a...
, AXN
AXN
AXN is a Pay television, cable and satellite television channel owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, which was first launched on May 22, 1997. The network is now spread across several regions in the world, including Japan, Europe, other parts of Asia and Latin America...
, Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network (Europe)
Cartoon Network is a pan-European digital television channel created by Turner Broadcasting, a unit of Time Warner and dedicated to showing animated programming...
). Furthermore, there are a few independent and local broadcasters.
Two private stations, Pro TV
Pro TV
Launched in December 1995, Pro TV reaches almost 99% of Romania’s 21.5 million people and has 48% of its broadcast schedule comprising locally-produced programs...
and Antena 1, are market leaders, sharing about 32% of the market, with public television in the third place. A feature of Romanian Television after 2000 was the boom of specialized channels - such as soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
and telenovela
Telenovela
A telenovela is a limited-run serial dramatic programming popular in Latin American, Portuguese, and Spanish television programming. The word combines tele, short for televisión or televisão , and novela, a Spanish or Portuguese word for "novel"...
channels (Acasă TV, Romantica
Romantica
-Track listing:# "Lovedust" – 4:00# "Weird and Woozy" – 3:12# "Black Postcards" – 5:12# "Black Champagne" – 3:34# "Swedish Fish" – 2:54# "Renée Is Crying" – 3:13# "Mermaid Eyes" – 3:31...
, Antena 4 - Euforia lifestyle TV), sport channels (such as Sport.ro
Sport.ro
Sport.ro is a private channel in Romania, launched on July 27, 2003 and dedicated entirely to sports. Sport.ro reaches nearly 64% of the population of 21.5 million inhabitants of Romania and its broadcast schedule contains domestic and international sporting events...
and Telesport
Telesport
-Programming:*Romania's Basketball League*Athletics*Football**Divizia Nationala**UEFA Cup*Gymnastics*Motorsports*Tennis...
), talk channels (Antena 2
Antena 2 (Romania)
Antena 2 is a Romanian TV channel. It started broadcasting on April 9, 2007 and is part of the Intact group, owned by the family of the Romanian businessman and politician Dan Voiculescu.-External links:*...
) news channels (Realitatea TV
Realitatea TV
Realitatea TV is a Romanian news television network. The channel is distributed by many cable operators in Romania and Moldova. Its main owner is Romanian businessman Elan Schwartzenberg....
, Antena 3
Antena 3 (Romania)
Antena 3 is a Romanian TV channel, which focuses on news and current events. It was launched in May 2005 and is part of the Intact group. Antena 3 is also distributed in Serbia in the Romanian language-extra package of the DTH platform Digi TV...
and N24
N24 (Romania)
N24 Plus is a TV channel in Romania. It is owned by Centrul Naţional Media, property of the Micula brothers.Until January 2010 it was labeled N24 and it was a news channel....
), different movie genres or documentary types, and even specializing on different musical styles (UTV Romania
UTV Romania
- External links :*...
and MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
being geared toward club, dance and hip-hop music, whereas Favorit TV
Favorit TV
Favorite TV is a Romanian folk music channel located in Bucharest owned by Centrul National Media.-External links:*...
and Etno TV towards folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
, and Taraf TV towards manele
Manele
Manele is a music style from Romania, generally associated with the Romani minority, though not exclusively....
). Teleshopping channels, lifestyle and weather channels, and special channels dedicated for display in public areas (such as waiting areas, airports, train stations, banks, supermarkets) additionally exist.
Television broadcasts and cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
, frequency
Frequency
Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit time. It is also referred to as temporal frequency.The period is the duration of one cycle in a repeating event, so the period is the reciprocal of the frequency...
allocations, content monitoring and license allocation are done by the National Audiovisual Council (Consiliul Naţional al Audiovizualului (CNA)).
Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
has very high penetration rates for cable television in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, with over 79% of all households watching television through a CATV network in 2007. The market is extremely dynamic, and dominated by two giant companies - Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n based RCS&RDS
RCS&RDS
RCS&RDS is the largest Romanian cable and internet provider, offering nationwide satellite television, cable television, cable internet, VOIP, and 3G services...
and United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
based UPC-Astral. Both additionally offer IP telephony over coaxial cable and Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
services. The national CATV network is being improved, and most households are being migrated towards digital cable solutions. Digital DTH
DTH
DTH may refer to:* The Daily Tar Heel, a student newspaper at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill* Dance Theatre of Harlem, New York City* Danmarks Tekniske Højskole, a previous name for the Technical University of Denmark...
satellite service is available throughout the country, and accounts for an additional 10-15% of the market, with only about 5% being attributed to terrestrial analogue television. Digital satellite DTH is provided by a number of companies. Most TV channels only broadcast via cable.
Broadcast television is very limited because of the high penetration of cable, only TVR 1
TVR 1
TVR1 is the main channel of the Romanian public broadcaster TVR.The most important show of the channel is Jurnalul TVR, whose motto is Jurnalul aşa cum ar trebui sǎ fie! , but on 28 March 2009 was replaced by Telejurnal...
, TVR 2
TVR 2
TVR2, Televiziunea Română 2 , is the second channel of the public broadcaster TVR.The channel was created in 1968, but it was suspended from 1985 until after the fall of the Communist regime in 1989...
, Antena 1 and Pro TV
Pro TV
Launched in December 1995, Pro TV reaches almost 99% of Romania’s 21.5 million people and has 48% of its broadcast schedule comprising locally-produced programs...
are available as analogue broadcasts. In some areas, only TVR 1
TVR 1
TVR1 is the main channel of the Romanian public broadcaster TVR.The most important show of the channel is Jurnalul TVR, whose motto is Jurnalul aşa cum ar trebui sǎ fie! , but on 28 March 2009 was replaced by Telejurnal...
is available, and in others, there is no broadcast signal while there are cable operators. Furthermore, although the transmission systems are still functional, receiving aerials in many places have long since been dismantled or are unmaintained. Although tests are being performed in Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
it is possible that Romania will not migrate to digital terrestrial systems, but completely discontinue this service, and sell the available spectrum for other purposes, since the said investments provide limited appeal. It is expected that by 2010, only 5% of the population will watch television via broadcast, making it possible to completely switch off the network.
The reasons for the appeal for cable started in the early '90s. After the fall of the communist regime
Romanian Revolution of 1989
The Romanian Revolution of 1989 was a series of riots and clashes in December 1989. These were part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several Warsaw Pact countries...
, in 1989, there were only two state owned TV channels available (see TVR
Romanian television
Romanian television may refer to:* Communications media in Romania* Televiziunea Română, TVR, the national television network* List of Romanian language television channels...
), one only being available in about 20% of the country. Private TV channels were slow to appear, because of lack of experience and high start-up costs (most startups were radio stations or newspapers). Thus, for the first three years, over the air, one would get one or two state channels and one or two local, amateurish private channels, broadcasting only a few hours a day. In this environment, cable TV companies appeared and thrived, providing 15-20 foreign channels for a very low price (at the time 2 USD or less), some with Romanian translation, offering high quality news, entertainment and especially movies or cartoons (one of the ways cable companies advertised was the availability of a cartoon channel, Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network (Europe)
Cartoon Network is a pan-European digital television channel created by Turner Broadcasting, a unit of Time Warner and dedicated to showing animated programming...
, appealing to children, which in turn would appeal to their parents). The first two companies to provide CATV were Multicanal in Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
and Timiş Cablu in Timişoara
Timisoara
Timișoara is the capital city of Timiș County, in western Romania. One of the largest Romanian cities, with an estimated population of 311,586 inhabitants , and considered the informal capital city of the historical region of Banat, Timișoara is the main social, economic and cultural center in the...
, both out of business today. Many small, startup firms gradually grew, and coverage increased (coverage wars were frequent in the early period, with many cable boxes smashed, and new cable networks offering "half off for twice the channels" and immediately wiring the building for any willing persons). However, this period soon ended, with consolidation around 1995-1996. Some large companies emerged: Kappa and RCS in Bucharest, Astral in [Cluj-Napoca|[Cluj]], UPC in Timişoara, TourImex in Râmnicu Vâlcea
Râmnicu Vâlcea
Râmnicu Vâlcea is the capital city of Vâlcea County, Romania .-Geography and climate:Râmnicu Vâlcea is situated in the central-south area of Romania...
. This consolidation came with gentlemen agreements over areas of control and pricing, with claims of monopoly abounding. This process of consolidation was completed around 2005-2006, when only two big suppliers of cable remained: UPC-Astral and RDS. Internet over coaxial cable has been available since around 2000, and IP telephony (over the CATV infrastructure) since the deregulation of the market in 2003. Currently, cable TV is available in most of the country, including most rural areas (where roughly 40% of the population lives). Satellite digital TV appeared in 2004, providing coverage for the rest of the country, with both RCS&RDS and UPC-Astral having a stake in these companies. IPTV (over DSL) is also planned by Romtelecom
Romtelecom
Romtelecom is the largest telecommunications company in Romania; the majority of shares are held by the Greek telecommunications company OTE . The Romanian state also has a minority stake of 45.99% in the company. The company had a monopoly for the provision of fixed telephony services until...
through its TV service (Dolce), after offering Satellite digital DTH TV. However, IPTV will not be much of a competition, since the other two big ISPs are also the two biggest CATV providers.
Cable TV is very cheap for all standards, the standard/basic service, offering about 50 channels, is around 20-30 RON/month including VAT
Vat
Vat or VAT may refer to:* A type of container such as a barrel, storage tank, or tub, often constructed of welded sheet stainless steel, and used for holding, storing, and processing liquids such as milk, wine, and beer...
(about 7-10 €), with the most expensive service, offering 10-15 channels more, including some pay-per-view
Pay-per-view
Pay-per-view provides a service by which a television audience can purchase events to view via private telecast. The broadcaster shows the event at the same time to everyone ordering it...
such as HBO or Cinemax
Cinemax
Cinemax, sometimes abbreviated as simply "Max", is a collection of premium television networks that broadcasts primarily feature films, along with softcore erotica, original action series, documentaries and special behind-the-scenes features. Cinemax is operated by Home Box Office, Inc., a...
, costing no more than 60-70 RON/month (around 20-23 €).
Romania uses PAL
PAL
PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
B/G for analogue cable and broadcast television, but see above.
Statistics
Note: data available for 2004 (2005) from International Telecommunication Union through europaworld.com- Radio users: 5,369,000
- Television users: 5,822,000
- Telephones: 4,390,800 main lines in use (2005)
- Mobile cellular telephones: 22,800,000 (2008)
- Internet users: 4,500,000
- Personal computers: 2,450,000
- Book production (incl. pamphlets): 13,288 titles & 9,288,000 copies
- Daily newspapers: 84
- Other periodicals: 2,036
News agencies
- AGERPRES http://www.agerpres.ro/
- AM Press http://www.ampress.ro/
- Amos News http://www.amosnews.ro/
- MediafaxMediafaxMediafax is a Romanian media company headquartered in Bucharest and founded in 1991. It is a part of the MediaPro Group and its primary line of business is a news and photography service that covers the needs of 90% of the Romanian printed media and 70% of the national TV and radio stations...
http://www.mediafax.ro/ - NewsIn http://www.newsin.ro/
- RADOR http://www.rador.ro/