Digital Polsat (Cyfrowy Polsat)

Client:

Industry:

Online Streaming

WHAT WE DID:

Large-scale R&D and platform engineering for a major Polish media operator

RESULTS:

Enabled rapid scaling to 3.5M subscribers and captured a dominant share of Poland’s post-analog TV market

OVERVIEW

The project focused on supporting Cyfrowy Polsat (Digital Polsat) during a period of rapid growth in the Polish pay-TV market. The scope covered R&D and engineering across embedded systems, device lifecycle management, and data-driven decision support.

7bulls delivered highly optimized firmware for set-top boxes (STBs) operating on cost-efficient hardware, ensuring fast boot times, responsive user interfaces, and stable performance at scale. In parallel, we designed a lifecycle management system tracking individual devices from manufacturing through deployment, servicing, and recycling. This was complemented by high-performance reporting and business intelligence tools providing near real-time insight into subscriber behavior, logistics, and operations.

The partnership was structured as a long-term collaboration, with delivery tightly integrated into CP’s business and operational processes and a planned transfer of intellectual property and know-how to the client’s internal R&D teams.

CHALLENGE

Cyfrowy Polsat entered a saturated market as a late challenger, facing strong competitive pressure and tight cost constraints. To succeed, the company needed to scale aggressively without compromising system stability or customer experience. Scaling was the first major constraint.

The platform had to support growth from approximately 100,000 to 3.5 million subscribers within a few years, while keeping infrastructure and operations stable and predictable.

Cost efficiency came next. Cyfrowy Polsat needed to deliver a fast, responsive user interface and short boot times on low-memory hardware, maintaining competitive pricing without compromising user experience. Operational complexity added another layer of risk. Managing the production, deployment, servicing, and replacement of millions of devices required precise, unit-level tracking to automate decisions on repair, reuse, or scrapping and keep logistics efficient at scale.

See our approach

Results

The delivered solutions supported CP’s rapid expansion, enabling growth from around 100,000 subscribers in 2005 to approximately 3.5 million by 2011 and capturing a dominant position in the post-analog TV market in Poland.

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Optimized embedded software allowed the use of more cost-effective hardware while extending device lifecycles, resulting in multi-million savings with return on investment measured in months. The lifecycle management system automated complex logistics decisions, reducing waste and service costs across the device fleet.

Real-time business intelligence tools improved visibility into market behavior and operations, enabling faster, data-driven decisions across sales, manufacturing, and service processes. The partnership concluded with a planned and controlled handover, transferring full IP and know-how to CP’s internal R&D organization.

~3.5M

subscriber base

Why 7bulls

Engineering expertise behind the solution

7bulls combined embedded systems engineering, hardware-level optimization, and large-scale data processing expertise to deliver solutions under strict cost and performance constraints. Deep experience in low-level development (C/C++, Assembly, ST OS, Linux) enabled high performance on constrained hardware, supported by early involvement in processor selection and security architecture decisions, ensuring software and hardware evolved together.

On the data side, experience with high-volume transactional systems enabled real-time reporting across ERP, production, and sales environments. The collaboration model enabled deep integration with CP’s sales, manufacturing, and IT teams, supporting fast iteration cycles for new device models and predictable delivery at scale. Close, hands-on cooperation at both engineering and management levels ensured a smooth transition of ownership at the end of the engagement.

Looking to scale hardware-dependent platforms while keeping cost, performance, and operations under control? Let’s discuss how a similar approach could be applied in your environment.