IPTV registers strong growth in Malta

The MCA publishes the Data Report Sheet for Quarter 3, 2015

The Malta Communications Authority (MCA) has updated its Data Report Sheet to cover a number of market indicators up to the end of the third quarter in 2015. This report is compiled from the data submitted by local service providers. Overall, the communications market has fared positively when compared to the same period a year earlier and continues to demonstrate the importance and strength of these sectors. The following is a high level overview of the main developments in Pay TV.

Pay TV services

Whilst the number of pay TV subscriptions at the end of Q3 2015 was down by 1,039 compared to the end of Q3 2014, 800 disconnections (almost 77% of the total) are attributed to the analogue pay TV platform, which is no longer commercially available. The number of digital pay TV services was down only marginally, as strong takeup of IPTV almost countered the fall in take-up of digital cable and digital terrestrial (DTTV). IPTV has in fact registered strong growth, with subscriptions for this service increasing by 65% to reach 17,532 subscriptions by
the end of September 2015.

Pay TV                                     Q1 2014  Q2 2014  Q3 2014  Q4 2014  Q1 2015  Q2 2015  Q3 2015
------                                     -------  -------  -------  -------  -------  -------  -------
Total                                      148,545  149,158  149,394  147,880  147,721  148,231  148,355
 Melita                                     79,872   79,965   79,935   78,146   77,752   78,134   77,994
 GO                                         68,673   69,193   69,459   69,734   69,969   70,097   70,361

Analogue pay TV subscriptions                7,186    7,208    7,062    6,848    6,670    6,537    6,262
 as a %age of total pay TV subscriptions     4.84%    4.83%    4.73%    4.63%    4.52%    4.41%    4.22%
 Melita                                      7,186    7,208    7,062    6,848    6,670    6,537    6,262
 GO                                              -        -        -        -        -        -        -

Digital pay TV subscriptions               134,095  132,661  131,701  128,776  127,156  126,184  124,561
 as a %age of total pay TV subscriptions    90.27%   88.94%   88.16%   87.08%   86.08%   85.13%   83.96%
 Melita                                     72,686   72,757   72,873   71,298   71,082   71,597   71,732
 GO                                         61,409   59,904   58,828   57,478   56,074   54,587   52,829

IPTV subscriptions                           7,264    9,289   10,631   12,256   13,895   15,510   17,532
 as a %age of total pay TV subscriptions     4.89%    6.23%    7.12%    8.29%    9.41%   10.46%   11.82%
 Melita                                          -        -        -        -        -        -        -
 GO                                          7,264    9,289   10,631   12,256   13,895   15,510   17,532