Focus Sat is a

direct broadcast satellite Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna comm ...

television platform owned by

M7 Group M7 Group (legally Canal+ Luxembourg S.à.r.l.) is a Luxembourg-based television provider which operates several direct broadcast satellite pay TV platforms: HD Austria in Austria, Télésat in Belgium and Luxembourg, TV Vlaanderen in the Flander ...

(Canal+ Luxembourg S.a.r.l.), a subsidiary of

Canal+ Group Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow und ...

, in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

. At the beginning, Focus Sat Romania was owned by the majority shareholder Focus Sat Limited (British company) and several individual shareholders (Romanian businessmen): Valentin Ionescu (former regional director of AIG New Europe Fund, shareholder in Astral Telecom), Bogdan Drăgoi ( worked for Inquam UK Limited and representative of the shareholder in Telemobil SA and Cristinel Popa (founder of Eastern Space Systems, former shareholder of Uniplus Radio from 1997 to 2002.) At the time of the launch of Focus Sat, Cristinel Popa was president and CEO, Valentin Ionescu he was vice president of finance, Bogdan Drăgoi was vice president of development, Adrian Cojocaru, vice president of Customer Operations and Liviu Pop, technical vice president.UPC preia controlul la Focus Sat
12.04.2006, zf.ro, accessdate 30/03/2010 At the time of launch, the Focus Sat service was offered in the form of a reception-installation kit based on a service contract. The installation kit cost 799 lei + VAT. The kit contained an STB (Set Top Box - satellite receiver), a remote control, LNB, satellite dish and a smartcard for decrypting TV programs. The company was founded in November 2004 by 3 business partners. Liberty Global (then UnitedGlobalCom) bought 50% of the shares on May 19, 2005, and then launched the service in Romania on July 5, 2005. On April 11, 2006 Focus Sat became a full subsidiary of Liberty Global.UPC România cumpără Focus Sat și marchează pe piața televiziunii prin satelit
19.05.2005, zf.ro, accessdate 30/03/2010 Around December 2005 Focus Sat also provided satellite internet access and

satellite telephony A satellite telephone, satellite phone or satphone is a type of mobile phone that connects to other phones or the telephone network by radio through orbiting satellites instead of terrestrial cell sites, as cellphones do. The advantage of a sa ...

for a short period of time. Focus Sat launched its satellite television service in

Republic of Moldova A republic () is a " state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th ...

in 2008, where it offered around 50 TV channels, including 7 from Moldova. In 2014, due to service being unavailable and lack of customer service, the company was fined and banned from broadcasting in Moldova for six months. Focus Sat has not returned to Moldova since. In February 2010, the American company Liberty Global International established the division for satellite

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

transmission for

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the a ...

, named ''UPC DTH'' based in Howlad, Luxembourg. This company manages operations in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, being present under the name Freesat, in Hungary under the name ''UPC Direct'', and in Romania under the name Focus Sat. Since December 2018, the Focus Sat company has been acquired by M7 Group Europe, a company based in Luxembourg. The company also owns the brands ''Skylink'' from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, ''Canal Digitaal'' from the Netherlands, ''Diveo'' from Germany, ''Télésat'' from France, ''TV Vlaanderen'' from Belgium, ''HD Austria'' from Austria and ''M7 Deutschland'' from Germany. In the middle of 2019, the acquisition of Focus Sat by M7 Group (Canal + Luxembourg S.a.r.l.) is expected to be completed. On May 2, 2019

bought Liberty Global's UPC DTH, the company that runs satellite television services in Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. M7 Group then became a subsidiary of

Vivendi Vivendi SE is a French mass media holding company headquartered in Paris. Widely known as the owner of Gameloft, Groupe Canal+, Havas, Editis, Prisma Media, Vivendi Village and Dailymotion, the company has activities in television, film, video ...

in May 2019. At the end of May 2019, the company M7 Group Europe (Canal + Luxembourg S.a.r.l.) is acquired by

Canal+ Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

, a subsidiary of the French press group Vivendi. The acquisition is subject to authorization by European regulators, with the final decision expected in September 2019. Since September 24, 2019, Focus Sat is officially a member of M7 Group,

group. Also from this date, the site www.focussat.ro was relaunched, with the new visual identity. Since July 2020, Canal+ is the legal entity under which Focus Sat operates in Romania.

History

Focus Sat is the first DTH operator on the Romanian telecommunications market. It was launched in November 2004, although it was officially launched in the spring of 2005. Since April 2006, the owner of Focus Sat is

UPC Romania UPC Romania was a telecommunications company in Romania, which provided cable television, broadband internet and fixed telephony to approximately 1 million customers. On July 31, 2019, Vodafone acquired the company and it was merged into Vodafone ...

, a company belonging to the American group Liberty Global International (LGI), which offers cable and satellite television services. , internet and telephony in 13 countries, in over 20 million homes worldwide. The Liberty Global group, in addition to the UPC brand, also includes Unitymedia, Kabel BW, Telenet, VTR, Chellomedia (TV division), and the Liberty Global Ventures investment fund.

References

External links

Focus Sat
{{CATV Europe Direct broadcast satellite services Television companies of Romania Companies based in Bucharest M7 Group