The pay-TV service in Portugal increased 1.2% during the first quarter, with 3.21 million subscribers reported at the end of March, 38,700 more than in the previous quarter. Compared to the same quarter of 2013, the number of subscribers increased by 2.6% (80,700 new subscribers).
The growth reported in the service stems from offers supported over optical fibre (FTTH/B) and xDSL, where the number of subscribers increased from the previous quarter by 8.2% and 2.8% percent respectively. Meanwhile, the number of subscribers with cable TV and satellite distribution fell.
At the end of March, the cable TV distribution service made up 43.5% of total subscribers (1.396 million), while xDSL had 705 thousand customers (22% of the total), and satellite 598 thousand (18.6 % of the total). Optical fibre had 511 thousand customers, 15.9% of the total.
The pay TV service was principally sold to consumers as part of bundled offers. 8 out of every 10 customers of this service received the service as part of a bundle of services, and the number of bundles including the subscription television service increased by 2.8% over the quarter.
In the same period, Grupo ZON Optimus (NOS) reported the largest share of subscription TV subscribers (46.4%). In terms of share, NOS is followed by PTC, Cabovisão and Vodafone with shares of 41.6%, 6.9% and 5%, respectively. Vodafone was the provider that added the largest number of subscribers in net terms during the quarter.
Total revenues from the subscription TV service (stand-alone and bundles that include this service) totalled 321.2 million euros in the first quarter, 7.1% more than in the same period of 2013. Bundles generated 257 million euros in revenue and were the main driver of reported revenue growth.
Average monthly revenue derived from bundles which include the TV subscription service increased by 0.6 euros/month (1.8%) compared to the same period of 2013.
At the end of March, about 19.5% of homes with subscription television had access to premium channels (a decline of 1.6 percentage points over March 2013), while 58.8% had more than 80 channels (an increase of 9.4 percentage points over March 2013).
Consult the statistical report:
- Subscription television service - 1st quarter 2014 https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1250972
