IPTV upstarts in Brazil, Russia, Europe winning subscribers from pay TV incumbents

IPTV upstarts in Brazil, Russia, Europe winning subscribers from incumbents, shows Infonetics pay-TV database

CAMPBELL, California — Market research firm Infonetics Research released excerpts from its new Pay TV Subscriber Database, which tracks the cable video, satellite video and telco IPTV subscribers of over 140 service providers around the world. The next edition will be published August 5.

A first of its kind, Infonetics’ Pay TV Subscriber Database shows which operators are growing their subscriber bases (and which aren’t), and tracks set-top boxes being used to deliver pay TV services — by operator, vendor and model number — in a searchable, sortable STB Tracker.

ANALYST NOTE

“We continue to see strong growth among telco IPTV upstarts, like Rostelecom in Russia, GVT in Brazil, KPN in the Netherlands and providers in Eastern Europe where competition for new pay TV subscribers is particularly fierce,” reports Jeff Heynen, principal analyst for broadband access and pay TV at Infonetics Research. “Our Pay TV Database gets the point across that telcos in both emerging and mature markets can do well, even when the market is saturated with cable and satellite providers.”

PAY TV SUBSCRIBER DATABASE HIGHLIGHTS

• China Telecom is the world leader in telco IPTV subscribers, with 20.5 million subscribers as of 4Q12
• In one year, KPN in the Netherlands saw a 77% jump in IPTV subscribers, Brazil’s GVT saw a 62% jump, and Russia’s Rostelecom saw a 42% jump
• Deutsche Telekom’s Eastern European divisions are also gaining IPTV subscribers at a healthy clip
• The top 5 cable pay TV providers by subscribers are Comcast, Jiangsu Cable TV, Guangdong Cable TV, Shandong Cable TV, and Sichuan Cable TV
• Meanwhile, DIRECTV US is tops in satellite pay TV subscribers, followed by DISH Network, British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB), and DIRECTV Latin America – the operators together accounted for 55 million subscribers in 4Q12

REPORT SYNOPSIS

Infonetics’ quarterly pay TV subscriber database tracks the digital and analog cable pay TV, satellite pay TV and telco IPTV subscribers of more than 140 providers around the world. The database, which includes searchable and sortable pivot tables, data and charts, provides operator demographics; subscribers per operator per quarter from 2004 to now; sub-region and country-level data where available; and a Set-Top Box Tracker by service provider, vendor and region.