IPTV Surpasses Pay Satellite TV in Western Europe

LONDON: The number of homes paying for IPTV in Western Europe overtook pay satellite TV ones in 2015, according to a new Digital TV Western Europe Forecasts report.

IPTV subscriptions are expected to increase by nearly 7 million (up by 27 percent) between 2015 and 2021. IPTV revenues will reach $5.77 billion in 2021, up by $1.2 billion.

The number of homes paying for satellite TV, however, will decrease by 300,000 between 2015 and 2021 for the 18 countries covered in the report. This is due mainly to some operators, especially in Spain and Italy, converting their DTH subs to more lucrative bundles on their broadband networks. Satellite TV revenues will have declined every year from 2011, and will slip by $1 billion between 2015 and 2021.

Pay-TV penetration is only forecast to grow from 56.8 percent at end-2015 to 59.5 percent in 2021. The number of pay-TV subscribers will climb from 97.4 million in 2015 to 104.3 million in 2021. Pay-TV subscriptions will only increase by 6.9 million (7 percent) between 2015 and 2021. However, the number of digital pay-TV subs will increase by 19 percent (nearly 17 million) over the same period. Digital cable subs will increase by almost 10 million.

Simon Murray, principal analyst at Digital TV Research, said: “The remaining analog cable TV subs are the most obstinate. These homes have had several years to transfer to digital platforms—including those from their existing operators, but are still holding out. When conversion finally happens, these homes are more likely to convert to free-to-air platforms such as DTT or satellite than their predecessors.”