Satellite Pay-TV Subs to Top 300 Million by 2021

PARIS/MONTREAL: New research from Euroconsult indicates that the number of homes subscribing to satellite pay-TV services will reach almost 350 million by 2021, up from 184 million in 2011.

Satellite pay-TV revenues were almost $90 billion last year, as compared with $79 billion in 2010. They are expected to rise to nearly $150 billion in 2021. Over the next ten years, much of the growth will come from Latin America, Central Europe, Russia, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, which will account for almost 44 percent of overall satellite TV revenues by 2012. The report, Satellite TV Platforms, World Survey and Prospects to 2021, also indicates that there were almost 140 satellite TV platforms in operation globally last year.

Over the past ten years, subscriptions to satellite TV have grown by at least 10 percent each year, with 2011 posting a 16-percent rise. The fastest growing markets included Brazil, Russia and India.

"Emerging regions will take on the majority of subscriber growth going forward, as mature markets focus more on profitability," said Pacôme Révillon, the CEO of Euroconsult. "Many platforms were launched in the past five years, which means they must now start delivering results. To accomplish this, platforms are increasing fees and services offered in order to increase revenues and margins. For those relatively mature platforms that cannot reach profitability in the near future, the threat of consolidation is always around the corner."

HD, 3D and next-gen set-top boxes have been key to the growth of the sector, Euroconsult said. Over the 137 platforms offering satellite TV last year, 90 had HD services, yo from 48 in 2009.

"Next-generation set-top boxes which include OTT delivery provide satellite pay-TV platforms a means through which to deliver ‘true’ VoD services," said Dimitri Buchs, a consultant at Euroconsult. "As a consequence, these boxes allow them to compete more directly with cable and IPTV service providers on that front. Terrestrial service providers have been able to provide ‘true’ VOD services for several years now. Apart from the competitive advantage, the roll out of next-generation set-top boxes is also likely to limit the move from linear pay-TV subscriptions (i.e., satellite pay-TV, IPTV,…) to TV and video services received via OTT."