PPV slump in Spain
October 14, 2008
From David Del Valle in Madrid
The battle over football TV rights between Sogecable, owner of Digital Plus, and Mediapro, shareholder in La Sexta, and the financial crisis are the main reasons behind a sharp drop of 45% in the number of ppv sales in the second quarter of the year. According to the CMT, a Spanish regulatory body, in that period 2.5 million ppv events were bought by viewers against 4.5 million the same quarter the previous year. In contrast, the number of pay-TV subscribers grew by 9%, from 3.6 million to more than 4 million.
The CMT’s report reveals that ad revenues in the audiovisual sector dropped by 6%, from E 1,062 million the same period last year to E1,006 million, with a big impact on public television. The state-owned group RTVE experienced a 15.8% drop in ad revenues, with private TV channels Antena 3 dropping by 12% and Tele 5 3.4%.