 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Founded | 1995; 30 years ago (1995) |
| Founder | Foundation for Research & Technology – Hellas Minoan Lines |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | Greece and Cyprus |
Key people | Nikos Stathopoulos (Chairman) Panagiotis Georgiopoulos (CEO) |
| Products | Mobile Fixedline telephony Broadband IPTV Satellite television Television show Pay television IT services |
| Revenue |  €579 million (2022)[1] |
| −€15 million (2022)[1] | |
| Parent | United Group |
| Website | nova |
Nova Telecommunications & Media S.M.S.A. is a Greektelecommunications company which providesbroadband,television,mobile andfixed services. It also offers satellite services inCyprus. It was traded on theAthens Exchange until its delisting in 2021.[2]
In June 2016, the services for clients andSMEs were rebranded under the Nova brand.[3] The company gave up Forthnet brand completely in June 2020.
On 29 May 2020BC Partners'United Group agreed to purchase a majority stake in Nova from a consortium of 4 Greek banks.[4] As of 29 April 2021 is the sole shareholder.
On October 15, 2021, Nova announced that they would be shutting down some of their older services (like Dialup, Call-by-Call and old technology ADSL) on December 15 of the same year.[5]
On January 11, 2023,Wind Hellas had merged with Nova, therefore fixed & mobile telephony, internet and other Wind services were rebranded to Nova.
Forthnet was established in October 1995 byMinoan Lines SA and theFoundation for Research & Technology – Hellas.
Nova brand was launched in Greece in December 1999 for thesatellite television platform byNaspers, aSouth African company, who also operatedMultiChoice. In 2002, Nova absorbed theAlpha Digital satellite television platform.[6] On April 14, 2008, Forthnet reached an agreement withNaspers to purchase Netmed, the parent company of Nova satellite television platform in Greece and Cyprus for €430 million.[7]
In 2010, Nova Greece had 363,679 subscribers.[8] HD service counted 52,968 subscribers in 2011.
In the end June 2015 the platform had 509,088 subscribers, while one year later, June 2016 it had a decrease to 460,252.[9]
In July 2017, it was referred that Nova had 430,000 subscribers.[10]
In 2020, Nova had 551,000 broadband internet subscribers and 457,000 pay television subscribers.
In March 2021, it was announced that Nova had 456,500 pay television subscribers making it the second largest TV provider.[11]
Nova broadcasts in standard definition using theDVB-SMPEG-2 format and (since September 2010) inhigh definition using the DVB-SMPEG-4 format throughHot Bird 8 satellite at 13°E.[12] The service is encrypted with Irdetoconditional access system. Until recently the subscribers had the option of buying a specific set-top box, or using any DVB-S Irdeto enabled set-top box, but since September 2009 new subscribers are only allowed to use the company's own set-top box. This change of policy has raised some significant controversy. Nova has also introduced adigital video service, accessible only through a (different) specific set-top box. This service requires an extra subscription fee but also provides the subscriber with the option to watch two different channels on two different TV sets in the same household.
Nova Satellite Package includes digital satellite receivers manufactured byPace. The current models are NovaBox HD 831 and NovaBox HD PVR 865. Older models were Panasat 1110, Panasat 910, as well as the older Panasat 720i, Panasat 700 and Panasat 642, manufactured by Panasat.
Nova operates 4Novacinema and 14Novasportspay television channels and an entertainment channelNovalife. Nova channels are available inCyprus through CytaVision, PrimeTel & Cablenet platforms.
Nova has been providing satellite television and internet services in Cyprus since 2004. Most television channels are available, except generalist television channels from Greece which do not have a broadcasting license for Cyprus.
 |  |  | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995–2007 | 2007–2017 | 2017–2021 | 2021–present |
The new NOVA logo from 2022 shares the same style with the largest telecommunications company inBulgaria,Vivacom. This is due to Vivacom and Nova belonging to the same parent company,United Group.
