100,000 now have OTE's hybrid satellite-IPTV box

Wednesday, June 8th, 2016 

More than 100,000 subscribers already at the new, advanced ΟΤΕ ΤV hybrid environment

100,000 subscribers are already enjoying the new OTE TV hybrid environment that combines the benefits of both the satellite platform and IPTV. The migration of the IPTV customers to the new and advanced environment has begun since April.

In June, OTE TV will launch the remote migration of the remaining satellite service clients, via special software that will automatically upgrade their decoders.

ΟΤΕ TV is the first provider to introduce the hybrid experience to Greece and one of the first worldwide to remotely upgrade all its existing subscribers.

The hybrid platform offers OTE TV subscribers the opportunity to connect their decoder to the router of their DSL connection –regardless of the provider– and enjoy the following entire range of interactive services:

• Stop the live programme and rewind the time up to 48 hours, via the OTE REPLAY TV service available for more than 30 channels.
• Rent –in HD– first-pay movies produced by the top studios, via the OTE CINEMA ON DEMAND service.
• Record programmes to an external hard drive.

Furthermore, as of late June ΟΤΕ TV subscribers will be able to also record programmes remotely (remote PVR), wherever they are located, via the ΟΤΕ TV GO service.

The launch of an on demand film library will follow in autumn. The library will offer, free of charge, an extensive list of movies, TV series and documentaries, upon their airing in OTE TV’s channels.

Nova tops 0.5m pay-TV subs

Greece’s Forthnet ended the second quarter with a record 509,088 pay-TV subscribers, or 5.5% more than a year earlier, with the main driver for growth being the rollout of triple play.

As of the end of June, 364,727 households received Nova triple play/bundled services, up 5.9% on a year earlier.

However, there were 4,354 fewer new households receiving such services in Q2, compared to 20,873 more a year earlier.

Revenues for the company’s retail pay-TV business in H1 amounted to €69,653,000 (+0.4%), while its total revenues in the period were €182,826,000 (-6.9%). Adjusted EBITDA was €29,172,000 (-9.7%).

Commenting on the results, Panos Papadopoulos, said: “In the second quarter of 2015 the company’s key figures exhibited similar to the first quarter trends. Our subscription base continues to grow on a YoY basis, despite the macroeconomic environment. Under the current conditions we remain conservative and we focus on the quality of the services we provide and the improvement of our cost structure”.

Pay-TV tops 1m subs in Greece

Greece’s pay-TV market continues to perform extremely well despite problems in the electronic communications sector as a whole.

Data from the industry regulator National Telecommunications & Post Commission (EETT) published by Ekathimerini shows that the market contracted by 3% last year, its turnover of €5.24 billion contrasting with that of €5.40 billion in 2013.

In 2012, it was a much higher €5.92 billion. The EETT says the country’s pay-TV market grew spectacularly in the year to June 2014, gaining an additional 250,000 DTH and IPTV subscribers.

The total then stood at 820,000 and is now estimated to be over one million.

Meanwhile, broadband continued to grow, though not at an impressive rate, with last year’s penetration rate of 28.5% being only slightly more than the 26.3% in 2013.

As of the end of 2014 there were 3.15 million operating broadband connections, up from 2.91 million a year earlier.

There were also 2.88 million double play (telephony and internet) subscribers as of December 2014.

Forthnet working on two new Nova set-top boxes

According to Forthnet’s Six Months Financial Report 2014, the company is working on two new set-top boxes to be offered to its Nova pay TV subscribers.

The aim of the project is to develop two new high-end models. A basic model branded Nova and an advanced ‘Nova plus’ model offering more services and program recordings. Development of the boxes started early this year.

Both models will be hybrid set-top boxes, capable of receiving signals through the IP network (internet), the digital terrestrial network (DTT) and satellite (DTH). By launching the new decoders, Nova aims to improve the services and the options for personalized viewing.\

Forthnet S.A. (Hellenic Company for Telecommunications and Telematic Applications S.A.), has released its Q2 2014 Financial Results. Forthnet provides pay TV services in Greece under the Nova brand.

Pay TV

The subscriber base grew by 29.4% y-o-y, reaching 482.5k households, which is an all time high- in spite of the seasonality that adversely affects the number of customers at the end of June. The acceptance of Nova 3Play offer continued in Q2 2013. The rollout of 3play services is expected to be the main growth driver for the Pay TV market.

During the 1st semester of 2014, Nova continued the expansion and enrichment of the first web tv platform in Greece, namely NovaGo, offering a constantly increasing number of channels in live streaming and on demand content, including premieres of movies and series.

Pay TV customers in Greece

Q2 2014  Q2 2013      Δ
-------  -------  -----
482,572  373,049  29.4%

Greek OTE gains satellite TV customers

Strong take-up of OTE’s satellite TV offer resulted in the company ending the second quarter with a total of 174,964 subscribers to its TV services.

This was 26,000 more than three months earlier and 99,000 (+129.2%) higher than in the corresponding period last year.

In its latest set of results, the Greek incumbent notes that all this growth was in fact down its DTH offer, with IPTV subscriber numbers remaining stable.

It also says that it expects growth to continue in the second half of the year, with the service’s rich content expanded to include Premier League coverage.

Meanwhile in Romania, OTE-backed Romtelecom ended the second quarter with a total of 1,295,888 subscribers to its TV services, or 7.3% more than a year earlier.

According to OTE, the urban footprint of Romtelecom’s cable TV service continued to expand in the quarter.

OTE had revenues of €1,002.5 million in Q2, an 8.6% reduction on a year earlier.

EBITDA was 8.8% lower at €346.6 million and net income 39.5% down at €57.2 million. Its fixed line business performed particularly well and the company says it is now in its best financial position in years following the sale of Globul and incremental refinancing.