Pay TV subscribers in Portugal up 5% in 2015

Subscription TV service reports growth above the average of the last five years

According to Portugal’s Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações (ANACOM), at the end of 2015, the penetration rate of the subscription TV service was reported at 86.6 subscribers per 100 private households, increasing 4.1 percentage points compared to 2014. There were 3.52 million customers of the service, increasing by 167 thousand from the previous year, representing a growth rate of 5%, outpacing the average of the last five years (4.6%).

The service’s growth was mainly due to offers supported over FTTH/B (increasing by 185,100 subscribers). At the end of the year, FTTH/B represented, 23.1% of total subscribers (4.4 percentage points more than in the previous year), and became the second most important form of access, following cable.

The TV service based on cable technology decreased by 1.4% but remains the most important form of access (38.3%). Use of xDSL declined by 1.2% (representing the first decline reported for this technology since this information was first compiled), falling to third place among the networks supporting the service (21.3%). DTH (satellite transmission) follows with 17.4% of the total, increasing by 1.7%, the first annual increase since 2011.

The increase in bundled offers in 2015 resulted in an increase in the penetration of subscription television offers. At the end of the year, about 87.8% of subscribers received the service as part of a bundle of services.

In this period, about 78.1% of subscribers to the service had access to over 80 channels. The number of homes with subscription TV with access to premium channels remained in line with the previous year (18.6%) while reporting an increase of 3.2 points compared to 3rd quarter 2015.

The share of subscribers who used the different features of the subscription TV service increased by 5 percentage points in 2015, with about 67 percent of subscribers using at least one of the available features. Automatic recordings were used by 53% of customers, the most commonly used service.

During 2015, some of the most important Over-the-top services were launched in Portugal, including Netflix in October. This service has been included in some bundled offers. Before that, in September, NOS launched Nplay.

In 2015, total revenues derived from the subscription TV service (stand-alone and bundles that include this service) totalled 1.662 billion euros.

Grupo NOS continued to be the service’s leading operator with a 43.8% share of subscribers. MEO had a share of 40.7%, Vodafone 10.2% and Cabovisão 5.1%. Vodafone was the only provider to increase its share of subscribers (an increase of 2.7 percentage points) and is the service provider which gained the most subscribers in 2015 in net terms.

Pay TV households in Central America grew faster than the rest of Latin America in 2015

Thursday, March 17th, 2016 

In 2015 Pay TV HH in Central America grew faster than the rest of Latin America

The region covered by Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama and Dominican Republic reach 3.7 million Pay TV subscribers by end of 2015, continuing its growth trend. The total subscribers by the end of Q4 2015 represents a growth of 13.5% compared with the same period for the previous year.

The main leaders in the region are Claro (America Movil) and Tigo (Millicom), reaching 31% and a 24.3% of the market respectively.

Currently, the main driver in terms of subscribers is Costa Rica, and along with Panama they are the most mature markets. This leaves the rest of the region with great perspective for growth.

Dataxis believes that DTH services will continue to push the market, mainly due to the advantages that the service can offer in terms of coverage. Digital Cable services will also continue to grow, as they are a convenient way for bigger actors to provide triple play solutions.

Pay TV and FTA TV will survive SVOD boom in Australia

Tuesday, December 8th, 2015 

Ovum says SVOD boom won’t wipe out Pay TV or Free-To-Air TV

Australian subscriptions to streaming video on demand (SVOD) services – like Netflix, Presto and Stan – will grow by a factor of 17 between the end of 2014 and the end of 2019, according to new forecasts by Ovum.

“SVOD services have been growing rapidly in Australia since the entry of Netflix in May this year”, said David Kennedy, Research Director at Ovum. “This has sparked strong competition from the Australian incumbents – the free-to-air and pay TV industries – that is driving takeup.”

Ovum forecasts show that SVOD subscriptions will rise from only 270,000 in December 2014 to hit 4.707 million by the end of 2019.

However, Ovum does not expect cannibalisation of the existing pay TV or free-to-air subscriptions, though there will be pressure on profitability as competition for content pushes up the cost of licensing.

“SVOD, pay TV and free-to-air are distinct consumer propositions that meet different needs. We expect SVOD to grow fast, but we also expect pay TV to maintain its dominance of sport and for free-to-air to remain popular because, well, it’s free,” Kennedy concludes. “Consumers will mix and match these different services”.

Television households and subscriptions in Australia, Ovum forecast

Source: Ovum. All figures are end of calendar year. All Foxtel on T-Box and Telstra TV, and some Fetch TV subscriptions, are included in SVOD. “FTA households are households where FTA remains the main source of TV content.

Econet planning pay TV service for Africa

In a Facebook post, Strive Masiyiwa, Executive Chairman & Founder of the Econet Group has announced the launch of Kwesé TV, a pay TV service that will offer sports and entertainment programming to African markets.

In the post, Mr. Masiyiwa said: “Our satellite communications business, Liquid Sat, has already built a platform which allows us to deliver what is known as Direct TV to the home (DTH), in all the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Our fibre optic company, Liquid Fibre, is the largest builder of terrestrial fibre in Africa. And, of course, Econet is one of the most experienced mobile network operators on the continent. These are just a few of the assets we’ll deploy in a unique way, never done before in Africa.”

Venezuela's Pay TV subscribers up 146,000 in 2Q 2015

CARACAS — According to preliminary statistics published by its Comisión Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (CONATEL), pay TV subscriptions in Venezuela at the end of June 2015 were 4.80 million, up from 4.47 million at the end of the second quarter of 2014 – an increase of 7.5% or 333 thousand. 146,000 subscribers were added in the quarter.

DIRECTV is the leading operator in terms of subscribers with a share of 41%, CANTV is in second place with 16.9%.

The split between cable TV and satellite is now 69% satellite to 31% cable.

Household penetration reached 65%.

Subscriber Market Shares

Number of Subscribers

                            Quarterly      Y-o-Y    Household
Year  Quarter  Subscribers  Additions  Additions  Penetration
----  -------  -----------  ---------  ---------  -----------
2013        I    3,533,972    129,674    648,279       49.00%
           II    3,707,703    173,731    715,113       51.23%
          III    3,837,679    129,976    716,815       52.83%
           IV    4,149,338    311,659    745,040       56.91%
2014        I    4,297,132    147,794    763,160       59.48%
           II    4,470,821    173,689    763,118       61.67%
          III    4,474,168      3,346    636,489       61.49%
           IV    4,540,829     66,662    391,491       62.17%
2015(*)     I    4,658,486    117,657    361,354       63.56%
           II    4,804,263    145,777    333,442       65.33%

* Preliminary figures

Top pay-TV operators to add 200 million subs

Pay-TV subscriptions for 338 operators across 89 countries will increase by 200 million from a collective 704 million in 2014 to 904 million by 2020, according to a new report from Digital TV Research.

The Global Pay TV Operator Forecasts report estimates that 29 operators had more than 5 million paying subs by end-2014.

China Radio & TV is the world’s largest pay-TV operator by a long,long way. Government policy to consolidate cable TV means that it quickly became the world’s largest pay-TV operator, with 198 million subs by end-2014. The operator will soon represent every cable TV home in China, with 252 million subscribers expected by 2020 – up by nearly 54 million on 2014.

Following China Radio & TV, IPTV operators China Telecom and BesTV will add 14.7 million and 13.2 million subs respectively. In fact, 12 operators from China and India will collectively add 130 million subscribers between 2014 and 2020.

Global subscriber growth is all the more impressive as 79 (23%) of the 338 operators will lose subscribers between 2014 and 2020. Korea’s CJ Hellovision will lose the most (827,000 subs), followed by Germany’s Unitymedia (down by 592,000) and Romania’s RCS-RDS (down 477,000). Very broadly, pay-TV operators in Asia Pacific’s emerging markets will see strong growth, with North America and Western Europe suffering.

Despite adding 200 million subscribers between 2014 and 2020, subscription and VOD revenues for the 338 operators will remain flat at $183 billion. From the total, 34 pay-TV operators earned more than $1 billion in subscription and VOD revenues in 2014.

The dominance of China and India is diminished when the operators are ranked in subscriptions and VOD revenue terms. Led by DirecTV (now owned by AT&T, which owned three of the top 10 operators by revenues in 2014), the US will take six of the top 10 positions in both 2014 and 2020.

China Radio & TV will add a massive $2.16 billion between 2014 and 2020. In fact, five operators will add more than $500 million in revenues. However, 97 operators (29%) will lose revenues, with Comcast (down by $4.6 billion) declining by the most – followed by Time Warner (down $2.3 billion) and DirecTV (down $1.8 billion).

Pay TV subscribers pass 5 million in Colombia

According to figures from Colombia’s Comisión de Regulación de Comunicaciones (CRC) and Autoridad Nacional de Televisión (ANTV), the number of pay TV subscribers in the country passed the 5 million mark in July.

Telmex is the leading provider with 43% of the market.

           December   December   December      March       June       July
               2012       2013       2014       2015       2015       2015
          ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------
Telmex    1,954,784  2,040,502  2,136,035  2,152,602  2,147,613  2,156,503
UNE EPM   1,049,135  1,059,787  1,040,303  1,029,084  1,016,359  1,013,210
DIRECTV     683,178    868,978    985,776  1,045,265  1,073,874  1,071,944
Coltel      274,008    332,789    389,116    403,847    417,680    420,230
Others      349,318    362,429    346,196    321,106    341,323    356,375
          ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------  ---------
Total     4,310,423  4,664,485  4,897,426  4,951,904  4,996,849  5,018,262

More: 2015 Subscriber Numbers [es]; IT Sector Report - September 2015 [es]

Pay TV operators progress in Asia Pacific

Despite economic growth concerns, pay TV subscriptions for Asia Pacific’s top 68 operators will increase by 74% from a collective 376 million in 2014 to 535 million by 2020, according to a new report from Digital TV Research. These operators from 20 countries will climb from 75% of Asia Pacific pay TV subscribers in 2014 to 83% by 2020.

The Asia Pacific Pay TV Operator Forecasts report concludes that China and India dominate the operator rankings by subscribers. Government policy to consolidate cable TV operations means that China Radio & TV has become the world’s largest pay TV operator by a long way, with 198 million subscribers by end-2014. The operator will soon represent every cable TV home in China, with 252 million subscribers expected by 2020 – up by nearly 54 million on 2014.

At the other end of the scale, Korea’s CJ Hellovision will lose 827,000 subscribers over the same period. In fact, nine operators are expected to experience subscriber decreases between 2014 and 2020.

Total subscription and VOD revenues for the 68 operators will climb by nearly $10 billion between 2014 and 2020 to $33 billion. These operators will account for 80% of Asia Pacific pay TV revenues by 2020, up from 74% in 2014.

The dominance of China and India is diminished when the operators are ranked in revenue terms [subscriptions and VOD only]. China Radio & TV will add a massive $2.16 billion between 2014 and 2020. In fact, five operators will add more than $500 million in revenues. However, 10 operators will lose revenues, with Foxtel (down by $151 million) declining by the most.

Macedonia pay TV subscribers up 5.6% in 2014

Macedonia’s Agency for Electronic Communications (АЕК) has released its latest report on development of the electronic communication market up to the 4th quarter of 2014.

Macedonia finished 2014 with 359 thousand pay TV subscribers, up 5.6% year-on-year. the fastest growing segment was IPTV, up over 12% during the year. Cable TV remains the most popular platform with 186 thousand subscribers.

Makedonski Telekom was the leading operator with a subscriber share of 25%. Robi was second at 20% and ONE and Blizoo were third and fourth, each with shares of around 16%.

Pay TV subscribers

            Q4 2014  Q3 2014  Change (%)  Q4 2013   Change(%)
            -------  -------  ----------  -------  ----------
Cable TV    185,608  181,286       2.38%  178,955       3.72%
IPTV         98,798   87,378      13.07%   88,125      12.11%
DVB-T        58,506   58,256       0.43%   58,277       0.39%
Satellite    15,921   15,203       4.72%   14,566       9.30%
Total       358,833  342,123       4.88%  339,923       5.56%

Operator subscriber market shares

                    Q4 2014
                    -------
Makedonski Telekom   24.70%
Robi                 20.00%
ONE                  16.30%
Blizoo               15.79%
Total TV              4.44%
T-Mobile              2.83%
Inel Internacional    1.83%
KDS Cable NET         1.83%
Others               12.24%

Pay TV subscribers in Costa Rica grew 14% in 2014

SAN JOSÉ — Costa Rica’s Superintendency of Telecommunications (Superintendencia de telecomunicaciones – SUTEL) has released a report on the country’s telecommunications market for the period 2010 to 2014.

Costa Rica ended 2014 with 732,546 pay TV subscribers, up 91,504 (14%) versus the end of 2013. The majority of subscribers (510,390) have their television delivered over cable networks, though satellite added the most subscribers (70,204) during the year, growing 48% year-on-year.

Tigo is the leading operator with 29% market share, followed by Cabletica at 22% and Claro at 16%.

Television subscribers by technology

                                         2013
           ----------------------------------
                Q1       Q2       Q3       Q4
           -------  -------  -------  -------
Cable TV   467,125  469,332  474,119  489,848
Satellite   99,610  116,371  130,495  146,936
IPTV           886    1,294    2,168    3,071
MMDS         1,136    1,097      922    1,187
           -------  -------  -------  -------
Total      568,757  588,094  607,704  641,042

                                         2014
           ----------------------------------
                Q1       Q2       Q3       Q4
           -------  -------  -------  -------
Cable TV   500,016  505,883  508,268  510,390
Satellite  162,355  171,641  186,591  217,140
IPTV         3,483    3,674    3,804    4,191
MMDS         1,091    1,093      876      825
           -------  -------  -------  -------
Total      666,945  682,291  699,539  732,546

Operator Market Shares

                       2010    2011    2012    2013    2014
                     ------  ------  ------  ------  ------
Tigo (Millicom)      39.87%  38.05%  35.68%  30.14%  28.80%
Cabletica            32.14%  30.02%  27.92%  23.98%  21.61%
Claro                    0%      0%      0%   9.17%  16.38%
Telecable económico   2.98%   4.39%   5.80%   9.37%  10.33%
Sky                  11.66%  13.02%  14.14%  13.74%   9.88%
Clabe Visión CR       5.91%   6.05%   6.09%   3.97%   3.07%
Coopelesca            1.69%   1.68%   1.96%   1.81%   1.84%
Coopesantos           0.27%   0.91%   1.67%   1.43%   1.55%
Others                5.42%   5.84%   6.70%   6.34%   6.49%

More: Market Report (.pdf) [es]

Pay TV providers embrace OTT video and 'skinny' bundles

Pay TV Providers Embrace Over-the-Top Video and ‘Skinny’ Bundles to Stave Off Cord-Cutting: IHS Infonetics Report

CAMPBELL, CA — The global pay TV services market, including cable TV, satellite TV, telco TV and over-the-top (OTT) video, totaled $237 billion in 2014, up 7 percent from the previous year, according to the 2015 IHS Infonetics Pay TV Services and Subscribers report from IHS (NYSE: IHS).

“In a growing number of pay TV markets, service providers are expanding market presence by offering their own OTT video services, primarily as apps on tablets and third-party OTT media servers. Dish Networks, the second-largest satellite provider in the US, is offering an OTT video service called Sling TV that’s aimed squarely at cord-cutters and cord-nevers,” said Jeff Heynen, research director for broadband access and pay TV at IHS. “The net result of these offerings will be slower revenue growth globally as OTT services carry a lower ARPU.”

“Pay TV providers are also actively marketing ‘skinny’ bundles of 10 to 30 channels in more affordable packages. Verizon has gone so far as to introduce multiple bundles of channels that subscribers can add on top of their base channels to create a custom channel lineup,” Heynen said.

PAY TV MARKET HIGHLIGHTS

Global pay TV subscribers ballooned to nearly 800 million in 2014 (up 5 percent); for the first time, the OTT pay TV segment provided the strongest growth.

Over the 5 years from 2014 to 2019, OTT pay TV services are forecast by IHS to have the highest compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of any pay TV service.

Cable pay TV revenue growth slowed to 1.8 percent in 2014, largely due to sluggish subscriber growth in North America, where net video subscribers are declining around 1 to 3 percent annually.

VIDEO SERVICES REPORT SYNOPSIS

The 2015 IHS Infonetics pay TV services and subscribers report provides worldwide and regional market share, market size, forecasts through 2019, analysis and trends for telco, cable (analog, digital), satellite and OTT pay TV service revenue, ARPU and subscribers. Pay TV providers tracked include AT&T, Beijing Gehua, BCE (Bell Canada), British Sky Broadcasting, Cablevision, CanalSat, Charter, China Telecom, Comcast, Cox, DirecTV, DISH Network, J:COM, Jiangsu Cable, Kabel Deutschland, Netflix, Orange, Shaw, Sky Italia, Tata Sky, Time Warner Cable, UPC Broadband, Verizon, Virgin Media and many others.

Russians viewers tempted by internet

A fifth of Russians access the internet while also watching TV, according to a study by Synovate Comcon.

Published by Vedomosti,the results of the study, which questioned viewers aged 10+, also found that accessing the internet was growing.

The figure of 20% at the beginning of this year was up from 19% in Q3 2013.

However, it was much higher in Moscow (42%), St Petersburg (46%) and generally in large cities (25%).

Another key finding was that children (29%) and adolescents (33%) were more likely to use the internet while watching TV.

Argentina's Pay TV subscribers up 7.3% in 2013

(Más hogares tienen TV Paga en Argentina)

Tuesday, March 25th, 2014 

According to the Latin American Multichannel Advertising Council (LAMAC), the number of pay TV subscribers in Argentina grew by 7.3%, or 666,800, in 2013 to reach 9,830,700 households at the end of the year.

76% of households receive their pay TV service via cable, with the remaining 24% having access via satellite.

LAMAC is a non-profit association comprised and financed by 49 Pay TV channels, representing the 6 industry leaders in Latin America (A&E OLE, Chello, Discovery, FOX, Sony and Turner).

Pay TV subscribers in Asia Pacific region surpass 538 million

At the end of the third quarter of 2013, the research from Dataxis shows that the Asia Pacific region has a whopping 538,486,593 pay TV subscribers. For the same quarter from 2012, there were a total of 476,734,798 subscribers in the Asia Pacific region.

This means the growth in pay TV subscribers in a span of year has increased by 12.9%. In terms of Direct Digital
Cable pay TV subscribers, Australia alone accounts for 84,000 of them. Bangladesh accounts for 72,000 and India accounts for 26,531,000 of the subscribers in total. Whereas the numbers are more impressive when it comes to analogue cable pay TV subscribers in many of the developing countries in the region.

In terms of analogue pay TV subscribers, India alone accounts for 87,409,000 subscribers, Laos accounts for 36,300 subscribers, Mongolia has 93,900 subscribers and Myanmar has 1,300,000 for the third quarter of 2013.

Pay TV revenues in MENA to grow more than 83%

Wednesday, January 22nd, 2014 

Pay TV thrives in the Middle East & North Africa

Pay TV revenues in the Middle East and North Africa will grow by more than 83% between 2010 and 2020 to $5.60 billion, according to a new report from Digital TV Research.

Source: Digital TV Research Ltd

The Digital TV Middle East & North Africa Forecasts report states that Turkey and Israel are expected to contribute 52% of the region’s pay TV revenues in 2020 total. From the $1,490 million pay TV revenues to be added between 2013 and 2020, Turkey will supply $359 million, Egypt $362 million and Saudi Arabia $257 million. Revenues in Israel will fall by $56 million over this period due to greater competition.

Satellite TV will continue to dominate pay TV revenues, taking two-thirds of the 2020 total (similar to the 2013 proportion). Satellite TV revenues will reach $3.74 billion in 2020, up by $1 billion on 2013 and nearly double the 2010 total.

Source: Digital TV Research Ltd

The third edition of the Digital TV Middle East & North Africa Forecasts report is 185-pages long – 20% larger the previous edition. The third edition contains full forecasts for 21 countries – up from 16 countries in the second edition.

More: Digital TV Middle East & North Africa Forecasts

Pay TV revenues in MENA to grow more than 83%

Pay TV thrives in the Middle East & North Africa

Pay TV revenues in the Middle East and North Africa will grow by more than 83% between 2010 and 2020 to $5.60 billion, according to a new report from Digital TV Research.

Source: Digital TV Research Ltd

The Digital TV Middle East & North Africa Forecasts report states that Turkey and Israel are expected to contribute 52% of the region’s pay TV revenues in 2020 total. From the $1,490 million pay TV revenues to be added between 2013 and 2020, Turkey will supply $359 million, Egypt $362 million and Saudi Arabia $257 million. Revenues in Israel will fall by $56 million over this period due to greater competition.

Satellite TV will continue to dominate pay TV revenues, taking two-thirds of the 2020 total (similar to the 2013 proportion). Satellite TV revenues will reach $3.74 billion in 2020, up by $1 billion on 2013 and nearly double the 2010 total.

Source: Digital TV Research Ltd

The third edition of the Digital TV Middle East & North Africa Forecasts report is 185-pages long – 20% larger the previous edition. The third edition contains full forecasts for 21 countries – up from 16 countries in the second edition.

More: Digital TV Middle East & North Africa Forecasts

Deloitte predicts pay-TV will double up

Deloitte predicts by the end of 2014 the number of wordlwide homes with double or more pay-TV subscriptions will grow to 50 million homes.

The additional subscriptions generate about £3 billion (€3.6bn) in revenues. Over the coming years, the number of households with multiple subscriptions should continue rising, as more content owners and aggregators, including platform owners such as cable and satellite providers, make their content portfolios available via subscription video-on-demand (SVOD). A further stimulus to the market will be the increasing availability of inexpensive HDMI dongles, which connect TV sets to the Web.

This trend is counter to historical expectations of cord cutting, whereby households would either drop their pay-television subscription altogether, or replace their platform-based subscription with a SVOD package.

Cord cutting has been anticipated for the past decade: in surveys, a significant proportion of pay-TV subscribers have signaled their intent to cease subscribing, yet year after year these intentions have failed to materialise, and the base of pay-TV subscribers has remained constant or even continued to rise in many countries, even in markets with a high pay-TV base such as North America, where over 90% of homes have pay-television.

SVOD seems to be a supplement to platform-based pay-television, not a replacement.