Brazil Pay TV grows 30.45% in 2011

Friday, January 20th, 2012
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According to Brazil’s Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações (Anatel), the country’s pay TV subscriber base ended 2011 at 12.7 million, with almost three million new subscribers being added in the year – an annual growth rate of 30.45%.

21.2% of Brazilian households now have Pay TV, representing some 42 million people (assuming an average number of persons per household of 3.3). In December, more than 301,700 new subscribers were added, up 2.43% compared with November.

                     New subscribers              Growth absolute  Percentage growth
              Total         (January      Annual     in the month       in the month
Year  subscriptions     to December)  Growth (%)      of December    of December (%)
----  -------------  ---------------  ----------  ---------------  -----------------
2006      4,583,125          406,767        9.70           38,355               0.85
2007      5,348,571          765,446       16.70           41,235               0.79
2008      6,320,852          972,281       18.18           74,081               1.20
2009      7,473,476        1,152,624       18.24          191,177               2.67
2010      9,768,993        2,295,517       30.72          134,509               1.43
2011     12,744,025        2,975,032       30.45          301,730               2.43

Satellite pay TV increased fastest in 2011 with 2.5 million additional subscribers and a growth rate of 56.06%, increasing its overall share to 54.8% from 45.8% in 2010. Cable TV grew by 10.8%, though its share decreased to 44.5% from 51% in 2010.

Pay TV subscriber growth by technology (2011):

           December    December         YoY         YoY
               2010        2011   Additions      Growth
         ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------
Cable     4,980,154   5,518,127     537,973      10.80%
MMDS        312,525     240,562     -71.963     -23.03%
DTH       4,475,770   6,984,810   2,509,040      56.06%
Others          544         526         -18      -3.31%
         ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------
Total     9,768,993  12,744,025   2,975,032      30.45%

In December, DTH, with the addition of 251,631 subscribers, grew 3.74%, up from 3.53% in the previous month. Subscribers receiving services via Cable TV added 56,268 new subscribers – an increase of 1.03% in December, outperforming a 0.96% growth registered in November. MMDS providers lost 6,168 subscribers in the same period, representing a fall of 2.50% of its base, an index higher than 2.27% in the previous month.

Pay TV subscribers by month by technology (2011):

            January    February       March       April         May        June
         ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------
Cable     5,004,059   5,060,498   5,101,515   5,125,554   5,171,923   5,212,528
MMDS        303,847     301,624     293,376     285,987     281,219     275,587
DTH       4,615,967   4,813,494   5,023,395   5,245,107   5,419,782   5,619,386
Others          544         533         543         543         503         518
         ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------
Total     9,924,417  10,176,149  10,418,829  10,657,191  10,873,427  11,108,019

               July      August   September     October    November    December
         ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------
Cable     5,261,313   5,315,439   5,360,286   5,409,895   5,461,859   5,518,127
MMDS        269,518     264,207     258,180     252,471     246,730     240,562
DTH       5,764,164   6,049,935   6,269,634   6,503,805   6,733,179   6,984,810
Others          517         527         527         527         527         526
         ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------
Total    11,295,512  11,630,108  11,888,627  12,166,698  12,442,295  12,744,025