In-Stat Report Charts Gains in Global Pay-TV Base

SCOTTSDALE: The number of pay-TV subscribers worldwide increased by 6 percent in 2010, according to new data from In-Stat, with China as the world’s largest pay-TV market.

At at the end of the year, China had 160 million subscribers. The largest operator is Shanghai Media’s SITV, In-Stat says, but no platform has clear dominance, with all having less than 5 million customers. The biggest regional pay-TV market is Western Europe, where there are 17.5 million subs. In the Caribbean and Latin America, the biggest player is Net Servicos de Comunicacao of Brazil.

“Nearly every region showed gains or held their own in 2010," said Stephanie Pickering, industry analyst. "However, cable providers were impacted, to at least some degree, by a migration to satellite and/or IPTV in virtually every region. Only Western Europe showed any gains in the total number of cable TV subscribers.”