Poland's public broadcaster, TVP, is interested in buying the streaming service of Showmax Poland that is shutting down.

Poland's public broadcaster, TVP, is now interested in buying the video streaming service of Showmax Poland that is soon shutting down after just over two years operating in the European country as MultiChoice refocused its attention on Africa and South Africa.

Last week it was announced that after barely 2 years of operation Naspers' Showmax is abruptly cutting its losses and shutting down in Poland where it has been operating as well outside of South Africa and the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, ending the subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service's lofty international expansion plans.

Now Wirtualnew Media reports that Poland's public broadcaster is interested in possibly buying Showmax Poland from Showmax CEE, the parent company of Showmax Poland, and the rights to its content, so that it could bolster TVP's own video-on-demand (VOD) streaming service, VOD TVP.

Marciej Stanecki, TVP vice-president, said that after Showmax Poland's withdrawal from the Polish market, " a certain free pace to be developed by its competitors will be created, and th fight in the Polish VOD segment is very fierce".

"Telewizja Polska is potentially interested in buying content from this platform."

"As a board member, I can say that we are potentially interested in purchasing the Showmax Poland platform service and license. It would be a complement to our strongly developing VOD TVP platform."

"Of course, we will be able to make the final decision after conducting the valuation and confirming the content of the offer. From the point of view of TVP, the library of rights and the websites themselves are of particular interest," said Marciej Stanecki, noting that TVP had already made contact with Showmax.

Maciej Sojka, the head of Showmax in Poland, told Wirtualnew Media he's not willing to comment on the TVP interest.

BREAKING. Naspers' Showmax shutting down in Poland after just 2 years, ending the service's lofty international expansion plans outside Africa as MultiChoice Group decides to refocus its video streaming efforts closer to home.

After barely 2 years of operation Naspers' Showmax is abruptly cutting its losses and shutting down in Poland where it has been operating as well outside of South Africa and the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, ending the subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service's lofty international expansion plans as the MultiChoice Group refocuses its video streaming efforts closer to home.

Showmax will shutter in Poland at the end of January 2019, just over two years after it started in Poland in February 2017, promising original productions and a strong investment in local Polish shows and films.

Naspers plans to spin off the MultiChoice Group during the first half of 2019 that includes Showmax and that will continue with its South African and sub-Saharan Africa service.

Magdalena Marzec, Showmax Poland PR manager said the shut down of Showmax in Poland is part of the MultiChoice Group refocusing efforts on Africa.

"We are very grateful to all partners, clients and the Showmax team who have supported the company since its inception nearly two years ago and we are sorry that this story is coming to an end," a statement says.

Showmax Poland users don't have to cancel subscriptions or delete accounts - from 17 December Showmax in Poland will no longer charge a monthly fee for subsequent billing periods and by the end of January 2019, all subscriptions will expire.

In June this year, rival Netflix that launched in Poland in January 2016 a year before Showmax, was outpacing Showmax in terms of user growth according to data from Gemius/PBI.

Showmax has seen a constant top executive turn-over the past two years with first CEO John Kotsaftis who exited, followed by Chris Savides who was Showmax's head of Africa and left.

In August Naspers appointed Niclas Ekdahl as CEO of the newly-formed Connected Video unit in charge of Showmax and MultiChoice's DStv Now over-the-top service (OTT) for the MultiChoice Group.