Advanced Television

DirecTV approaches 12m Latino subs

March 29, 2012

By Chris Forrester

Brazil’s National Telecommunications Agency says Sky Brazil, the local brand owned by DirecTV, now has more than 4 million subscribers to its Brazilian service.

Sky Brazil is also an operator with the greatest growth rates in Brazil, riding the crest of an overall DTH growth spurt in the country. In terms of the overall Latino market, Sky Brazil has caught up with Sky Mexico, which has seen its growth flatten out. The only other pay-TV operator that has passed the four-million-subscriber barrier is MSO Net, which keeps leadership as the main operator in the region. In December 2011, Sky Brazil recorded 3.8 million users, and, as at the end of February, added some 215.000 subscribers.

As at the end of 2011, Net recorded 4.71 million users and Claro TV relied on 2.27 million users. By February 2012, Telefónica and Abril recorded more than 697.000 subscribers jointly. Oi TV and GVT recorded 371.000 and 82.000 clients respectively.

DirecTV owns 93 per cent of Sky. DirecTV also owns 41 per cent of Sky Mexico and 100 per cent of PanAmericana, which covers several Latin American nations, including Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela and Peru, among others. With these three units, DirecTV Latin America closed 2011 with 11.8 million subscribers.

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