Chile's pay TV subscriber growth slows in Q3 2015

SANTIAGO, Chile — Chile’s Subsecretaría de Telecomunicaciones (Subtel) has released pay TV statistics to the end of September 2015. From the end of September 2014, satellite subscribers increased from 1,416,966 to 1,498,941 (up 5.8%) whereas wired (cable TV and IPTV) subscribers grew from 1,355,619 to 1,425,199 (up 5.1%), giving a total for the country of 2.92 million, up 5.5% year-on-year.

Satellite TV subscribers fell 4,950 in the third quarter, with wired connections continuing to make gains (of 14,325), giving a total number of additional pay TV subscribers of less than 10,000, much lower than in previous quarters.

Pay TV Subscribers by operator:

                              Sep-14     Dec-14     Mar-15     Jun-15     Sep-15  3Q Adds  YoY Adds  YoY Growth
                           ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------  -------  --------  ----------
VTR                        1,004,074  1,008,746  1,003,867  1,018,376  1,022,126    3,750    18,052        1.8%
Telefónica Empresas          572,356    593,121    607,933    625,986    632,390    6,404    60,034       10.5%
Directv Chile Ltda.          449,367    461,808    480,690    506,418    512,504    6,086    63,137       14.1%
Claro Comunicaciones S.A.    470,534    461,791    459,872    459,532    444,000  -15,532   -26,534       -5.6%
Telefónica del Sur            80,044     83,416     86,361     88,724     94,218    5,494    14,174       17.7%
Entelphone                    81,195     83,381     84,966     86,846     89,489    2,643     8,294       10.2%
Pacífico Cable S.A.           77,642     78,657     79,692     81,556     81,057     -499     3,415        4.4%
GTD Imagen S.A.               23,454     23,752     24,239     25,205     26,514    1,309     3,060       13.0%
Cable Central                  7,172      7,369      8,613     11,365     10,444     -921     3,272       45.6%
Tu Ves S.A.                    4,477      5,602      6,783      8,348      9,108      760     4,631      103.4%
Chile Tv Cable S.A.            2,270      2,338      2,399      2,409      2,290     -119        20        0.9%
                           ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------  -------  --------  ----------                  
Total                      2,772,585  2,809,981  2,845,415  2,914,765  2,924,140    9,375   151,555        5.5%

Pay TV Subscribers by technology:

                              Sep-14     Dec-14     Mar-15     Jun-15     Sep-15
                           ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------
Wired                      1,355,619  1,374,806  1,378,284  1,410,874  1,425,199
 Quarterly Adds                8,624     19,187      3,478     32,590     14,325
 YoY Adds                     86,078     89,167     72,320     63,879     69,580
 YoY Growth                     6.8%       6.9%       5.5%       4.7%       5.1%
Satellite                  1,416,966  1,435,175  1,467,131  1,503,891  1,498,941
 Quarterly Adds               13,298     18,209     31,956     36,760     -4,950
 YoY Adds                    196,599    165,194    139,493    100,223     81,975
 YoY Growth                    16.1%      13.0%      10.5%       7.1%       5.8%
Total                      2,772,585  2,809,981  2,845,415  2,914,765  2,924,140
 Quarterly Adds               21,922     37,396     35,434     69,350      9,375
 YoY Adds                    282,677    254,361    211,813    164,102    151,555
 YoY Growth                    11.4%      10.0%       8.0%       6.0%       5.5%