European pay-TV in the hands of the few

Just six pay-TV groups hold half of the European Union’s pay-TV subscribers, according to a new report from the
European Audiovisual Observatory.

Deutsche Telekom, Liberty Global, Orange, Sky, Viasat and Vivendi are cited as the leading groups.

The Observatory says there are 13 pan-European broadcasters that (directly or through subsidiaries) own the significant well-known channel brands and pay TV channels available throughout Europe. Nine of these are linked to the major US television and film production groups.

Pan-European broadcast media groups can be distinguished between those with a “multi-country” broadcast strategy providing many important free to air channels, and those that have a more “pan-European” strategy with well-known channel brands available throughout Europe. Nine broadcasting groups are analysed in this report.

While TV audience markets have become slightly less concentrated between 2011 and 2014, from a sample of 30 European countries, the two main broadcasting groups gather on average 51% of the audience, and the 3 main groups 64%, with strong variations between countries.

The pan-European brand channel groups and the major pay TV channels (film and sport) are owned by 13 major groups and their subsidiaries (21st Century Fox, AMC Networks, Bonnier, Discovery Communications, NBC Universal, Scripps Networks, Sony Corporation, Time Warner, United Media Group, Viacom, Viasat, Vivendi, and Walt Disney). Nine of these companies are subsidiaries of the major US media groups.