Advanced Television

Cable TV losing subs to satellite and IPTV

November 21, 2012

Market research firm Infonetics Research has released excerpts from its November 2012 Pay TV Services and Subscribers report. “Ongoing challenging economic conditions in the key revenue-generating markets of North America and Western Europe have resulted in slowing subscriber and revenue growth in the cable TV market,” notes Jeff Heynen, directing analyst for broadband access and pay TV.

“Subscribers are far less loyal than they used to be,” Heynen adds. “The cable TV industry is characterised more by churn than cord cutting, as subscribers take advantage of introductory pricing on satellite and IPTV subscriptions that’s 30-50 per cent below their cable bills. DirecTV, Verizon, AT&T, and Virgin Media have all set their sights on existing cable subscribers, and they’re seeing their subscriber bases increase as cable TV subscriptions shrink.”

Highlight of the report include:
– The global pay-TV market (cable, satellite, and telco IPTV) totaled $137 billion in the firsthalf of 2012 (1H12), a 9.4 per cent increase over the same time last year
– By 2016, Infonetics expects satellite TV revenue to overtake cable TV revenue for the first time
– Global pay-TV service revenue is forecast by Infonetics to grow at a 7 per cent CAGR from 2011 to 2016, spurred by emerging markets Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Russia, India, and China
– Latin America, the smallest but fastest-growing pay-TV market, is on track to jump 23 per cent this year to top $23 billion
– The number of global pay-TV subscribers will reach 719 million in 2012, up 6 per cent from 2011
–  While cable subscribers continue to make up the lion’s share (60 per cent in 1H12) of pay-TV subscribers, growth is strongest in the telco IPTV segment, up 19 per cent in 1H12 over 2H11
-Verizon and AT&T are neck-and-neck for revenue share in the fast-growing telco IPTV market, followed by France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom in Europe and NTT and CTC in Asia

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