In 2006, with the growing contradiction between the increasing demand for TV products and the static market, the stir came from the cable and satellite channels. A new market segment emerged to replace the market division into “rich” and “poor” – parallel to the national channels and uniting TV channels with specialized programme contents. In 2006 three TV chains made a solid step forward in their presence on this market segment.
The first one is Diema Vision which has long been on the market but after its acquisition by the British Apache Media, has seriously developed its TV products. At the moment Diema Vision covers four channels: Diema +, Diema 2, Diema Family and the paid Diema Extra channel. In addition to TV series and films, Diema offers a variety of sports shows thanks to its possession of broadcasting rights for the French, English and Spanish football championships. Diema also possesses the rights for broadcasting the European Cup in 2008 in Bulgaria, which will inevitably change its market position in the future.
The second chain is AXN possessed by Sony, which was initially broadcasting a joint programme channel for Romania and Bulgaria but later expanded its activities and stepped solidly on the Bulgarian market. The AXN programme features TV series and films that it receives being a part of the large international corporation, which guarantees its access to high-budget TV products. AXN unites three TV channels: the basic AXN and the thematic AXN Sci-Fi broadcasting science fiction and AXN Crime, broadcasting criminal series.
The third channel is similarly a part of a large international company and incorporates the national leader bTV and the cable distribution channels FOX Life and FOX Crime. The programme and pattern of these two channels is similar to AXN and AXN Crime but they also broadcast shows that have already achieved high rating points as a part of the national programme provided by their head channel.
Other specialized cable TV channels that have established on the market are the Bulgarian edition of EUROSPORT, the music Planet TV and TV Evropa, which features news and political journalism mostly. Each one of them has found its specific niche and has mobilized audiences, not covered by the national televisions.
Due to its longer history and its intensive development Diema + TV ranks second in the specialized market segment with a firm audience of 10,6% nationally. The other two channels in its chain - Diema 2 and Diema Family – generate 4,8% and 6,7% respectively. The leader in the segment is Planet TV with a firm national audience of 12,3%, while the Bulgarian edition of Eurosport has an audience of some 6%. Unlike Diema, the other two TV chain, due to their short history, have not yet developed their full potential. The televisions FOX Life and FOX Crime have established audiences of 4,7% and 1,3% respectively, and AXN, AXN Crime and AXN Sci-FI - 4,8%, 2,5% and 0,9% respectively.
Although some of the TV channels in the segment have managed to attract a serious number of spectators, the firm audience of 12,3% occupied by the leader in the segment is in a very different category from the firm audience of 80,5% enjoyed by bTV. In the present market situation – high homogeneity of the attitudes to media consumption and limited possibilities for high-tech products supply, no successful competition to the national TV channels will be possible. The specialized channels are only left with a peripheral audience that the national channels have failed to attract due to their majority target audience. The entering of companies with solid financial and technological capacity on a currently futureless market demonstrates the readiness and the long-term intentions of the business to offer high-technology and high-quality products the moment changes occur in the state regulation and the user attitudes.
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