N1 and Nova S to Reach All Main Serbian TV Operators as Exclusivity Ends
ANN says A1 subscribers will get both channels after deals with Telekom Srbija and Yettel. Until now only Yettel's SBB network carried them in Serbia.
N1 and Nova S will be distributed through A1 Srbija, Adria News Network (ANN), the company behind both channels, said on Saturday, 7 November. With that agreement, ANN says, the news channel N1 and the entertainment channel Nova S will be available through all of Serbia's main pay-TV operators. On 4 November ANN's board had announced deals with Telekom Srbija (mts) and Yettel.
How exclusivity shaped the market
Until now the two channels could be watched in Serbia only on the network of Yettel, which owns the cable operator SBB. According to an analysis by telecoms site TeleSrbija published on 30 October, the reason was a commercial exclusivity contract: when Yettel bought SBB, it agreed with rights holder United Media that only Yettel could retransmit those channels in Serbia. Exclusive content has long been SBB's main tool for winning and keeping subscribers, the analysis notes, and earlier disputes with Telekom Srbija left viewers on one network without channels available on another.
ANN said A1 had shown interest in its content since it began operating in Serbia and that talks concluded quickly once exclusivity ended. It thanked Yettel for years of partnership, which it says will continue in a new form.
No start date or prices yet
Neither ANN nor the operators have announced when the channels will appear in Telekom Srbija's and A1's packages, or at what price. For viewers, the change means that following N1's news coverage or Nova S series no longer depends on which operator they use.
Investment plans and ownership
ANN says total investment in Nova S will exceed €11.3 million in 2027, mainly for domestic drama and licensed formats such as new seasons of Survivor. Plans for N1 and the wider news business will be published in the coming weeks after consultations with union representatives. The dailies Danas and Forbes Srbija and the weekly Radar are to keep their print editions and introduce premium digital subscriptions. The investment fund Alpac took management control of ANN's Serbian companies in August, and journalists' associations said in October that personnel changes could threaten editorial independence.
Sources
This report is written by The Serbian Review from the sources listed above; facts are attributed where they could not be independently verified. Spotted an error? See our Corrections Policy.
