Digi gains in Hungary

Digi slightly strengthened its position in Hungary’s fixed broadband market in November, while the market leader Telekom saw its share fall and UPC remained unchanged.

Data published by the regulator NMHH shows that at the end of the November Telekom’s share stood at 36.1%, compared to 36.2% a month earlier.

Meanwhile, Digi and UPC claimed 14.7% and 21.9%, compared to 14.6% and 21.8% a month earlier. Invitel, the next largest player, had a share of 9.5%, which was unchanged.

In November, the total number of broadband cable subscriptions in Hungary, based on data provided by the market leaders, stood at 1,085,865, of which the majority (918,878) were via DOCSIS 3.0.

The number of broadband subscriptions via FTTx was 435,647 and there were also 787,123 xDSL subscriptions.

Pay-TV growth continues in Hungary

Close to 3.5 million homes in Hungary now receive a pay-TV service of some description.

Data published by the regulator NMHH show that as of the end of July there was an estimated 3,441,000 such homes, covering the entire market.

Between them, the 10 major market players had 3,164,560 subscriptions.

The eight largest players in the cable/IPTV sector had a combined total of 2,149,799 subscriptions, of which 57% (1,221,771) were digital.

Meanwhile, the three major players in the DTH sector between them had 902,906 subscriptions and the pay-DTT service MinDig TV Extra 111,855.

Regardless of technology, the three leading providers were UPC, Telekom and Digi, with market shares of 26.8%, 25.1% and 24.3% respectively.

200,000 HbbTV-enabled televisions in Hungary

According to Antenna Hungária, there are more than 200,000 HbbTV-enabled televisions in Hungary, with 10% of owners having taken advantage of the feature. About one third of flat screen TVs available in the market are now also HbbTV-capable.

Antenna Hungária launched a free HbbTV trial on its MinDig TV Extra digital terrestrial pay TV service in October 2013.

Hungary set for DTT expansion

The Hungarian national transmission company Antenna Hungária plans to deploy two national DTT multiplexes this summer, bringing the total it operates to five.

As a result, it expects to significantly expand the offers of both its FTA (MinDig TV) and pay-TV (MinDig TV Extra) offers.

According to Antenna Hungária, work on the expansion should be completed by the end of June.

Hungary adds 212,000 digital TV subscribers in 2013

(Decemberben az előfizetők 67,6 százaléka vett igénybe digitális szolgáltatásokat)

Tuesday, January 28th, 2014 

According to the latest Flash Report released by Hungary’s Office of the National Media and Infocommunications Authority (Nemzeti Média- és Hírközlési Hatóság – NMHH), in December 2013, the number of households with digital television subscriptions in the network of Hungary’s largest broadcasters was 2,048,811, up from 1,836,428 in December 2012.

Satellite (and Hello Digital MMDS) subscribers accounted for 920,945 of the digital total with cable and IPTV accounting for 1,004,637, and Antenna Hungária’s MinDig TV Extra DTT service making up the remaining 123,229.

The flash report is based on data provided on a voluntary basis by Hungary’s largest broadcasters and covers approximately 88 percent of the subscription television services market.

The service providers featured in the flash report are Magyar Telekom Nyrt., Invitel Zrt., UPC Magyarország Kft., DIGI Kft., PR-TELEKOM Zrt., Tarr Kft., ViDaNet Zrt., PARISAT Kft., Hello HD Kft., UPC DTH S.Ã .r.l. and Antenna Hungária Zrt.

Pay TV subscribers (major operators)

                                                      2012
                ------------------------------------------
                    March       June  September   December
                ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------
Cable TV, IPTV  1,863,293  1,860,059  1,884,489  1,907,160
   Digital        725,548    758,913    788,678    835,785
DTH, MMDS         923,968    924,361    920,283    917,863
DTT                57,283     65,012     73,185     82,780
                ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------
Total           2,844,544  2,849,432  2,877,957  2,907,803
   Digital      1,706,799  1,748,286  1,782,146  1,836,428

Estimate for
all operators   3,222,000  3,221,000  3,251,000  3,281,000

                                                      2013            Y-o-Y
                ------------------------------------------  ---------------
                    March       June  September   December     Adds  Growth
                ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------  -------  ------
Cable TV, IPTV  1,927,277  1,939,919  1,965,460  1,988,170   81,010   4.25%
   Digital        891,314    927,889    965,473  1,004,637  168,852  20.20%
DTH, MMDS         915,895    921,401    924,735    920,945    3,082   0.34%
DTT                87,991    100,555    118,305    123,229   40,449  48.86%
                ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------  -------  ------
Total           2,931,163  2,961,875  3,008,500  3,032,344  124,541   4.28%
   Digital      1,895,200  1,949,845  2,008,513  2,048,811  212,383  11.57%

Estimate for
all operators   3,302,000  3,331,000  3,378,000  3,402,000  121,000   3.69%

Market shares (relative to the estimated total for all operators)

                                    2012          2013
                            ------------  ------------
                             June   Dec.   June   Dec.
                            -----  -----  -----  -----
UPC (wired, satellite)      26.8%  26.7%  26.4%  26.4%
T-Home (wired, satellite)   22.8%  22.9%  23.5%  23.7%
DIGI (wired, satellite)     23.2%  23.2%  23.0%  22.5%
Invitel (wired)              3.2%   3.3%   3.5%   3.7%
MinDig TV Extra (DTT)        2.0%   2.5%   3.0%   3.6%
Tarr (wired)                 3.2%   3.1%   3.0%   2.9%
PR-TELEKOM (wired)           2.7%   2.6%   2.5%   2.4%
ViDaNet (wired)              2.6%   2.5%   2.2%   2.1%
Hello HD (wired, MMDS)       1.3%   1.3%   1.2%   1.1%
PARISAT (wired)              0.6%   0.6%   0.6%   0.6%
Other service providers     11.5%  11.4%  11.1%  10.9%

Average number of set-top-boxes installed at subscriber termination points

                   2013
                   Dec.
                   ----
All                1.40
CATV, IPTV         1.19
DTH, HDig          1.64
MinDig TV Extra    1.25

New digital landmark for Hungary

Two-thirds (66.8%) of pay-TV subscribers in Hungary were receiving digital services as of this September, according to data published by the regulator NMHH.

Based on data provided by suppliers covering 88% of the broadcast market, there were a total of 3,378,000 TV subscriptions in the country as of September.

Cable and IPTV claimed 1,965,460, with 965,473 of these digital, while the number of DTH and MMDS subscriptions amounted to 924,735.

Pay-DTT is now an established feature of the Hungarian market, with the MinDig TV Extra service operated by Antenna Hungária claiming 118,305 subscribers.

The total number of digital subscriptions in September stood at 2,008,513.

UPC remained the leading provider of pay-TV services irrespective of technology, with a market share of 26.3%.

It was closely followed by Magyar Telekom and Digi, with 23.6% and 22.8% respectively.

Hungary set for ASO

Ninety five per cent of needy households in Hungary have digital reception equipment with only one week to go before ASO, according to the regulator NMHH.

The country is undertaking digital switchover in two steps, with the second due to take place on October 31.

The NMHH says that 90,000 homes have turned to it for help in the second stage of the process and help will be on hand to obtain reception equipment until November 30.

Following ASO, terrestrial viewers will be able to receive seven channels without a subscription fee rather than the current three.

Meanwhile, Antenna Hungária says that on November 1 it will start digital transmissions from 19 new low-power sites.

Its MinDig TV and MinDig TV Extra services, offering viewers a total of 31 TV channels, will then be transmitted from a total of 90 sites.

Antenna Hungária has invested HUF25 billion (€85.4 million) in the digitisation process and MinDig TV Extra is now the fourth largest pay-TV operation in the country, claiming almost 130,000 subscribers.

Hungary 's step by step ASO

The first stage of Hungary’s analogue switch off will take place this Wednesday (July 31) in central parts of the country.

According to the national transmission company Antenna Hungária, it will cover the Budapest, Györ, Kab-hegy, Szeged and Szentes transmitter regions, with six new low-power sites being launched on the following day.

These will ensure the MinDig TV and MinDig TV Extra DTT services, providing viewers with a total of 31 channels, are available everywhere in the switch-off area.

The second stage of ASO will take place on October 31, after which Antenna Hungária will put a further 19 digital low-powered transmitters, mostly in north-eastern Hungary, into operation at the beginning of November.

In total, there will then be 90 digital terrestrial sites.

Antenna Hungária expects the vast majority of analogue service users to switch to digital, resulting in up to one million homes using MinDig TV by the end of the year.

It also plans to expand MinDig TV’s channel line-up and add new services following analogue switch-off.