Romania ends 2013 with 6.4 million pay TV subscribers

Tuesday, April 15th, 2014
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6.4 Million Subscribers to Paid TV Programme Retransmission Services

In 2013, the total number of subscribers to paid audiovisual programme retransmission services in Romania augmented by 5.7%, up to 6.4 million, and it is worth mentioning that the number of subscribers receiving such programmes via cable networks and, respectively, over the IP technology (IPTV) is constantly growing. At the end of 2013, more than 85% of the Romanian households were benefitting from TV programme retransmission services, according to the data reported by the providers, processed and published by the National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications (Autoritatea Naţională pentru Administrare şi Reglementare în Comunicaţii – ANCOM) in its Integrated statistical data report on the Romanian electronic communications market in 2013.

Out of the 6.4 million subscribers to retransmission services, 4.1 million were holding a subscription to services provided via cable networks (+8.7% as compared to 2012), 2.2 million were DTH subscribers (-0.2% as compared to 2012), and 56 thousand were receiving these programmes over the IP technology (+49% as compared to 2012). The total number of subscribers as of 31 December 2013 rose by 5.7% as compared to end-2012. The penetration rate of the retransmission services, per household level, grew by 4 percentage points, to 85.1%, while the penetration rate of the cable retransmission services reached 55.1%.

Pay TV subscribers by technology (million)

                  31.12.2011      31.12.2012      31.12.2013
                  ----------  --------------  --------------
                       Subs.   Subs.  Growth   Subs.  Growth
                      (mil.)  (mil.)     (%)  (mil.)     (%)
                  ----------  ------  ------  ------  ------
TOTAL                    5.7     6.0    +4.8     6.4    +5.7
 Cable TV                3.6     3.8    +6.1     4.1    +8.7
 Satellite (DTH)         2.1     2.2    +2.3     2.2    -0.2
 IPTV                   0.03    0.04   +33.9    0.06   +49.0

At the end of last year, 62% of all the subscribers were residing in the urban area and the majority of them, i.e. 81%, were subscribers to cable networks. In the rural area, 61% of the rural users were subscribers to satellite DTH networks.

The number of subscribers to cable retransmission services grew by 8%, to 4.1 million, 1.5 million of them having access to services in digital format (+25% upsurge as compared to 2012).

The services of programme retransmission in digital format maintained the growth trend in 2013, while the share of the subscribers to these services within the total number of subscribers increased as well. Thus, more than 3.7 million of the total 6.4 million subscribers to retransmission services held subscriptions to services in digital format, up by 7.4% from 2012. Within the total number of digital subscribers, the largest share was further held by the DTH subscribers, i.e. 59%; however, in absolute figures, the digital cable subscribers registered the most considerable increase in 2013, whereas the IPTV subscribers registered the highest percentage growth, i.e. 49%.

As for the electronic communications services that the users acquired from the same provider, depending on the purchasing manner, as of 31 December 2013, the total number of subscribers to packages of electronic communications services (telephony and/or Internet and/or retransmission, sold together at a single price, usually smaller than the cumulated amount of the services purchased separately/individually) was 2.9 million. Furthermore, the total number of subscribers to multiple electronic communications services (subscribers to two or several telephony, internet and television services offered by the same provider, regardless of whether the respective services were acquired together, as part of a package or separately) amounted to 8.7 million.

The integrated statistical data report on the Romanian electronic communications market in 2013 was drawn up based upon the data reported by the active providers of electronic communications services, with commercial activity between 1 July and 31 December 2013, and is available for consultation – in Romanian.