Top LatAm pay TV operators continue to dominate

Latin American pay TV is dominated by DirecTV/Sky and Claro/America Movil, which will together account for nearly half the region’s pay TV subs by end-2016, according to a new report from Digital TV Research. This share will be maintained for the next five years. Three more pan-regional operators, Telefonica/Movistar, Tigo/Millicom and Liberty Global, harbor ambitions to increase their regional market shares.

Top five Latin American pay TV operators by subscribers (000)

Ranking  Operator                   Country         2016   Ranking  Operator                   Country         2021
-------  -------------------------  ------------  ------   -------  -------------------------  ------------  ------
1        DirecTV Latin America/Sky  Pan-regional  20,221   1        DirecTV Latin America/Sky  Pan-regional  23,286
2        Claro                      Pan-regional  15,209   2        Claro                      Pan-regional  17,719
3        Telefonica/Movistar        Pan-regional   4,814   3        Telefonica/Movistar        Pan-regional   6,501
4        Televisa Cable             Mexico         4,294   4        Cablevision                Argentina      3,832
5        Cablevision                Argentina      3,417   5        Dish                       Mexico         3,662

Source: Digital TV Research. Note: paying subscribers only

With 130 platforms across 18 countries covered in the Latin America Pay TV Operator Forecasts report, 25 operators will collectively generate 88% of Latin American pay TV subscribers by end-2016 – again this share will be maintained until the end of the forecast period. The regional pay TV subscriber total will climb from 72.02 million by end-2016 to 83.56 million by 2021.

There are some sizeable domestic players beyond the pan-regional players. Argentina’s Cablevision (which also has operations in neighboring Uruguay) will climb to fourth place by 2021. Mexico’s Televisa has merged its cable operations into a single entity. The company is also the majority owner of the Sky satellite TV platform.

The 25 featured operators will continue with their 90%+ share of Latin American pay TV revenues for the next five years. DirecTV/Sky and Claro together will take 62% of the 2016 total, although this share will fall slightly by 2021. Latin American pay TV revenues will grow from $18.31 billion in 2016 to $19.82 billion by 2021.

For more information on the Latin America Pay TV Operator Forecasts report, please contact: Simon Murray, simon@digitaltvresearch.com, Tel: +44 20 8248 5051.