VOLIA, the first in Ukraine to launch FOXNOW online cinema for its subscribers

WILL together with FOX NETWORKS GROUP offered the company's subscribers a new service - the FOXNOW library . Subscribers can now watch the best FOX and FOX LIFE movies and series at anytime, anywhere, in HD quality, across multiple mobile devices. The service is also available in the Will Mobile TV application.

FOXNOW is a On-Demand Video (VoD) directory and a true cinematic discovery that will transform their views on television, save time, money, provide choice and comfortable viewing conditions, making it a real pleasure for quality content connoisseurs.

The catalog consists of the most popular series, which are available on FOX and FOX LIFE channels, and also gives access to all previous seasons of top projects on these channels. Viewers will be able to see all the seasons of such cult shows as "Walking Dead", "Legion", "Atlanta", "Outcast", "Da Vinci Demons", "Secret Power", "Pines", "Under the Alien Flag", 11.22.63 , "Rebirth", "Gotham" and many others.

“The introduction of FOXNOW's innovative service gives our online services subscribers access to the world's best premieres simultaneously with the world, as well as the ability to watch TV shows, movies and shows in both original and translation. I am glad that we were the first in Ukraine to realize this project in accordance with the world standards of quality, genre diversity and licensing, which was made possible by a long-standing partnership with FOX NETWORKS GROUP - the world leader in the production of television and cinema products ”, - says Victoria Tsomaya, Director on the marketing of WILL.

“With the launch of FOXNOW's online service, our company is doing even more to make Ukrainian viewers feel an integral part of the global television audience. We are the first to offer WILL subscribers the best world series at a convenient time and in the best quality, which are now also available anywhere with the WILL TV mobile application, ”emphasizes Rodion Printsevsky, General Manager of FOX NETWORKS GROUP in Northeast Europe.

FOXNOW is regularly updated. Already, WILL subscribers have the opportunity to dive into the world of the adventures of a major zombie event, which has garnered millions of fans around the world and over 16 prestigious awards in 9 years. Fresh and all previous seasons of the post-apocalyptic Walking Dead series are available in the FOX NOW section.

The highlight of the new will for the Will subscribers will be the final season of the series Game of Thrones, which begins on April 15 at 22.00 on FOX. New episodes of all series will appear in the FOXNOW catalog the day after the premiere on the channel and will be available to viewers one month to one year after the broadcast. Do not miss the premiere of the year in WILLOW TV!

Service FOXNOW will be provided to subscribers enhanced service package Ott VOLIA *. 

* for packages: Power Time, Turbo HD, Premium HD https://volia.com/eng/bundle/packages/ ; Internet everywhere + Max TV https://volia.com/eng/volia-lifecell/ ; Strike https://volia.com/eng/tv/ott-packages/ ; Mobile Optimal https://volia.com/eng/tv/mobile-packages/

Volia Call Center in Khmelnitsky: two years of successful service development

The catalyst for innovative processes of work with the company's subscribers was the Volia call center in Khmelnitsky.

Two years ago, VOLIA opened its own flagship call center in the regional center in order to ensure high standards of service and to resolve issues as quickly as possible. Best practices in the global service market were introduced here. The company has invested more than $ 1 million into the new call center and also introduced software from an industry leader.

The company was able to ensure stable operation of the first line of communication with subscribers, which is independent of third parties. The Khmelnytsky call-center is developing rapidly, which has allowed to improve the speed of processing of subscriber appeals and to improve their quality. Now all incoming calls are handled independently, and the average waiting time in the queue is reduced to 30 seconds - for telecom - a good result. Two years of work have shown that the calls received by our own call center are processed faster and better than the outsourcing center.

Currently, the Khmelnytsky Call Center handles over 135,000 incoming calls per month. By the end of the year it is planned to reach 150 000. At the same time, the quality of service is increasing: more and more questions are solved in one call.

On the basis of the Khmelnytsky Call-Center VOLIA also organized an innovative project of developing active sales channels of its services - telemarketing. For this purpose, new training programs were introduced, new conversation cards, simulators, tests were developed - all tools that help to become a sales guru. Now there is a service for attracting new subscribers.

New tasks and increased services have become a challenge for the staff of the center, which is constantly updated with young ambitious employees. For them the company opens new opportunities and development zones. Khmelnitsky Center staff has many successful cases, dozens of plans completed, and even several victories.

In particular, Zabolotnaya Nina, the head of the Khmelnytsky Call Center, became the winner of the national award for achievements in the DzWinner contact center industry.

Volia is now in the heart of Melitopol

Volia opened the Center for Modern Technologies (CCT) on September 6, 2018 in the central square of Melitopol at Bohdan Khmelnytsky Ave., 36. The city center is a decent place to represent a company that provides most of the residents of the city and district with modern telecommunication services. By the way, it is now convenient for them to get to the CCT - after all, there is a transport interchange.

Not only did the residence permit of TsST, which used to be located on 50th Anniversary of Victory Avenue, be changed. The new center is more spacious and comfortable. At the high workplace at the entrance guests are welcomed by the administrator. He, finding out what brought a person to the center, tells which consultant is better to contact.

The Center for Modern Technologies is the point of communication of the company with the residents of the city, where the Volia brand “comes to life” for people, because it is represented by our employees. The company wants to be closer to the residents - this is the main reason for the relocation of the center. Our consultants are not just connoisseurs of telecommunication services, they are ready to advise, reassure, persuade, so that a person leaves us with a good mood. For example, to help choose the most appropriate set of services for the subscriber. After all, all the company's services include a variety of basic and additional packages. For example, which Internet connection is fixed or mobile, which is suitable only for surfing the net or for comfortable viewing of movies in HD format? Do you need additional "chips" such as fixed IP, antivirus protection or the ability to work on the network at hyperspeed? Does the subscriber want to watch TV programs only on TV or on a computer and also on a mobile gadget? This is all possible for our customers. It is clear that the cost of services is different and the consultant helps the visitor to find the package that is optimal for him. Now they can communicate in the comfortable premises of the new Center for Advanced Technologies, where all the services can be tested ”, - says director of the Melitopol Branch Andrew Dzhur.

CCT Schedule: Monday-Friday, 9am - 6pm, Saturday, Sunday - weekends.

There are now 54 Volia Modern Technology Centers operating across Ukraine. Over the last three years, the company has invested 10 million UAH in their development.

Volia continues consolidation of Ukrainian cable TV

Ukraine's Competition Office gave the country's largest cable TV operator, Volia, the green light to buy a majority stake in Ukraine's third largest cable TV player, PPF-controlled, Odeko Group. According to local sources, Volia paid $14m for the stake in Odeko.

In 2008 PPF Partners acquired 25 small cable TV players in Ukraine, creating Odeko Group. As of mid-2012 the operator provided triple play and digital TV services to about 200,000 RGUs in 11 cities in Western Ukraine.

Volia is one of the assets of UGF III and SGFII, private equity funds managed by SigmaBlayzer. The operator's shareholders include Providence Equity Partners.

In the fourth quarter of 2012 there are still about 550 cable TV operators in Ukraine. The vast majority are small players, typically providing only up to 50 analogue channels. Cable TV penetration has been stuck at the same level - around 20 per cent of homes - for the last few years. Cable operators have cut their investments in network roll-out, primarily due to the unfavourable economic situation. On the other hand, difficult economic conditions are accelerating consolidation in the market, with many players looking to sell.

Volia acquisitions-based strategy has itself been a major driver of consolidation. The operator has grown from about 500,000 TV subscribers in 2008 to over 1.3m in mid 2012. The acquisition of Odeko Group will extend Volia's network to about 3.4m homes passed, pushing its TV subscriber figure to 1.5m and its share of the cable TV market to well over 40 per cent in terms of subscribers.

In practically every Central Eastern European country there are a great number of cable TV providers, with the top three to four players holding over 50 per cent of subscribers and gradually increasing their shares of cable TV. There are also many other investment groups active in the cable TV market in central and eastern Europe. Some of them are pursue a similar strategy to PPF, purchasing a number of smaller players - for example, BKS Capital Partners in the Czech Republic. Most of them, however, prefer a strategy similar to Volia's investors: backing up a large player, with which they keep acquiring other, primarily big, operators: for example, AXA in Latvia, EQT in Bulgaria and Macedonia, or Liberty Global in Poland. Liberty's UPC, having bought Poland's fourth largest player, Aster, in 2011, is now likely to acquire the country's third largest operator, Multimedia Polska, which was put on the block by its owner, Emerging Ventures Limited, a few months ago.

A recent decision by the Ukrainian broadcasting regulator may accelerate the process of consolidation of the cable platform in the country. The regulator gave must-carry status to all free-to-air DTT channels broadcasting in the country. As Ukraine launched digital terrestrial TV in DVB-T2 standard there are now over 30 such channels, mostly small once. Broadcasting such a high number of free to air channel will considerably limit channel-line up of small players, most of which will find upgrading to digital too expensive.

Volia Cable and SigmaBleyzer merge to form pre-eminent Ukrainian cable provider

With operations in over 15 of Ukraine`s largest cities

Volia Cable (Aquorn Limited) and SigmaBleyzer`s regional cable operations (Oisiw Limited) are merging to form Ukraine`s pre-eminent cable provider with operations in over 15 of Ukraine`s largest cities. As a result of the merger, the combined business, to be named Volia Limited, will provide television service as well as high-speed Internet access to over 2.5 million Ukrainian households, according to Business Wire.

In a separate transaction, Providence Equity Partners, the world`s leading media and communications private equity firm, is making an additional investment in Volia bringing its total investment in the combined entity to over US$300 million. The transaction has been approved by the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine.

"We are very pleased to extend our partnership with Providence, a leading private equity investor and one of the largest and most experienced owners of media and communications companies globally," said Michael Bleyzer, President and CEO of SigmaBleyzer. "Merging our two cable businesses makes a lot of strategic sense and will allow us to provide best in class service from a unified operating platform to our subscribers. We see Providence`s increased investment in Ukrainian cable also as a vote of confidence in the Ukrainian economy."

"The combination of Volia Cable and SigmaBleyzer`s regional cable operations creates a cable company uniquely positioned to meet the rapidly expanding demand in Ukraine for the most advanced television and broadband services," said Jonathan M. Nelson, Providence Chief Executive Officer. "We are pleased to expand our commitment to Volia and look forward to continuing to work with Michael and Sergey and their teams to build value at Volia over the long-term."

Sergey Boyko, President of Volia Cable, will be leading the combined business and said: "I see tremendous potential in the combined operations. We now have the platform and scale to build a unified cable brand across Ukraine and bring to the regional cities the same level and quality of service that our subscribers in Kyiv have come to rely upon."

Goldman Sachs International acted as financial advisor to Oisiw Limited.

About Providence Equity Partners Inc.

Providence Equity Partners is the leading global private equity firm specializing in equity investments in media, entertainment, communications and information companies around the world. The principals of Providence manage funds with approximately $22 billion in equity commitments and have invested in more than 100 companies operating in over 20 countries since the firm`s inception in 1989. Significant investments include Bell Canada, Bresnan Broadband Holdings, Casema, Com Hem, Digiturk, Education Management Corporation, eircom, FreedomCommunications, Hulu, Idea Cellular, Kabel Deutschland, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, NexTag, Ono, Open Solutions, PanAmSat, ProSiebenSat.1, Recoletos, TDC, Univision, VoiceStream Wireless, Warner Music Group, Western Wireless and Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network. Providence is headquartered in Providence, RI (USA) and has offices in New York, Los Angeles, London, Hong Kong and New Delhi.

About Volia Limited

Volia Limited is the number one cable TV and Broadband Internet provider in Ukraine. As a result of the merger, the combined entity will have about 2.5 million homes passed and 1.8 million RGUs. Volia Limited provides services such as analog cable TV, digital cable TV, high-speed cable Internet access, VoIP and data services. New services, such as VoD and PPV, are under development and will be implemented in the future.

Volia Limited was created through the consolidation of a number of companies acquired by SigmaBleyzer over the past few years. Since acquisition, Volia has worked on integrating and upgrading the activities of the original cable operators.

About SigmaBleyzer

Operating in the region for over a decade, SigmaBleyzer is one of the largest and most experienced private equity investors in Eastern Europe. With the strength of the company`s local infrastructure, western-style management and knowledge of local markets, SigmaBleyzer has created one of the best investment management companies in the region. SigmaBleyzer manages funds and special purpose investment vehicles with approximately $1 billion in commitments and has made investments in over 100 companies in Ukraine since 1994.

As a manager of a family of private equity funds currently investing in Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria and Kazakhstan, SigmaBleyzer utilizes a hybrid investment approach developed specifically for emerging markets and focused on simultaneous value creation at the micro or enterprise level and at the macro level. Because of this unique approach and strong on-the-ground presence in a region where many of its investors could not have invested directly, SigmaBleyzer brings one of the most attractive pipelines of investment opportunities found anywhere to its client base.

With offices in Kyiv and Kharkiv (Ukraine); Sofia (Bulgaria), Bucharest (Romania), Astana (Kazakhstan), and a back office in Houston, Texas, SigmaBleyzer has the infrastructure in its countries of operation to successfully manage portfolio companies to help them reach their full potential, while creating value for the investors, shareholders, employees and other stakeholders.