Digital Pay TV in Russia reaches 6 million subscribers

According to iKS-Consulting, in Russia the number of pay TV subscribers grew by 16% compared with 2008 to reach 19 million subscribers at the end of 2009. The market share of satellite increased from 23% to 27% during the year, mainly due to the rapid growth of Tricolor which took 44% of new subscribers during the year.

IPTV subscribers grew by 46% during the year, faster than the other segments, but remained small with 2-3% of the market.

Top-5 Russian Pay TV operators:

                                                Subscribers
Rank  Operator                    Technology    (thousands)
----  --------                    ----------    -----------
1     Tricolor (Триколор)         Satellite TV        4,260 
2     NTK (ÐТК)                   Cable TV            3,260 
3     Comstar (Комстар)           IPTV, Cable         1,760
4     ER-Telecom (ЭР-Телеком)     Cable TV              970
5     Multiregion (Мультирегион)  Cable TV              855

Source: iKS-Consulting

In 2009, the existing satellite operators (Tricolor, NTV Plus, Orion-Express) were joined by Platforma HD and Rainbow TV. By early 2010, the new entrants subscriber base had reached 94 thousand households.

The number of subscribers to digital television in 2009 exceeded 6 million with 85% receiving digital by satellite and 6% through IPTV.

Top-5 Russian digital TV operators:

                                                Subscribers
Rank  Operator                    Technology    (thousands)
----  --------                    ----------    -----------
1     Tricolor (Триколор)         Satellite TV        4,260 
2     NTV+ (ÐТВ+)                 Satellite TV          600 
3     Akado (Акадо)               Cable TV              490  
4     Svyazinvest (Связьинвест)   IPTV                  160 
5     Comstar (Комстар)           IPTV                  128

Source: iKS-Consulting