India tops 100m pay TV households
August 30, 2011
India has just crossed the 100 million mark for pay TV subscribers, representing more than 70 per cent of TV households. According to the India Digital TV Forecasts report, there is still plenty of growth to come, with 139 million pay TV subs forecast for 2016. ARPUs will remain low in India, though pay TV revenues will reach $8 billion in 2016, double the 2010 figure.
Given the legacy of high analog cable subscriber numbers, digital households will lag behind pay TV, with 111 million digital TV subs expected by 2016.
Although growth will not match the phenomenal expansion of the last five years, pay DTH subscriptions are forecast to double between 2010 and 2016 to 47 million. DTH revenues will climb even faster, quadrupling to $3.4 billion in 2016 as ARPUs increase.
Despite the fast DTH rollout, it is impossible to forget cable’s impact. Although the number of analog cable subscribers is falling as homes convert to digital networks, there will still be 51 million analogue cable subs in 2016. However, rapid rollout is forecast for the next five years, resulting in 32 million digital cable subscribers by 2016.
At present, IPTV is overshadowed by the cable and satellite platforms. However, substantial broadband network construction will result in fast IPTV take-up over the next five years. By 2016, India will have 8.7 million IPTV subs.