The trend of growth in the number of subscription television subscribers continued in the second quarter of 2009, with the total number of subscribers reaching 2.37 million, an addition of 47 thousand subscribers compared to the previous quarter and of 232 thousand compared to the same period of 2008 (second quarter of 2008). The main drivers of the service's growth have been, in the first place, the ''other technologies'' of access, especially those using the public telephone network (xDSL/IP) and, in second place, DTH.
The cable television distribution service now comprises around 61 per cent of subscribers - down 1.5 percentage points on the previous quarter, while the weight of ''other technologies'' grew by 1.5 percentage points to represent around 13.6 per cent of the total at the end of second quarter of 2009. The weight of DTH remains steady: 1 in 4 subscription television subscribers use this technology.
Meanwhile, in regional terms this distribution varies considerably. Despite the general decline in the weight of cable, it continues to be clearly dominant in Madeira, Lisbon and in the North. In the Azores the number of DTH subscribers was overtaken by the number of cable TV subscribers. In contrast, in the Centre, the number of DTH subscribers overtook cable TV. In the Alentejo and Algarve regions 1 out of every 5 customers were reported as using ''other technologies''.
As of the end of second quarter of 2009, the total number of cabled households for all operators stood at around 4.3 million, 17 thousand more households than in the previous quarter and 111 thousand more than recorded at the same time in 2008. The increases seen reflect, above all, the expansion of the networks of Grupo ZON/TV Cabo, especially in the North and Lisbon areas. Meanwhile, the geographic distribution of cabled households remained virtually unaltered, with the Lisbon area continuing to have the biggest concentration of cabled households (around 43 per cent), followed by the North (30.7 per cent) and the Centre (13.8 per cent).
On 30 June 2009, there was a total of 1.45 million subscribers to the cable television service, 0.4 per cent less than in the previous quarter and 2.9 per cent less than in the same quarter of 2008. This marks the fourth consecutive quarter of negative quarterly growth. All the main operators saw declines to their customer base during the quarter being reported, with the exception of ZON/TV Cabo Portugal and some very small operators. In some cases these declines may result from substitution between service access platforms. Despite the net decline in the number of CDS subscribers, the number benefiting from digital formats continued to rise. There were around 672 thousand digital subscribers, corresponding to over 46 per cent of all CDS subscribers.
As far as penetration is concerned, the decline in CDS subscribers has not had a significant impact on the percentage of cable television service subscribers in terms of total Portuguese households, which has remained at 26 per cent. Likewise, the subscriber penetration rate calculated in terms of cabled households remained at 37 per cent.
At the end of second quarter of 2009, the number of subscribers to the television service using Direct To Home (DTH) technology stood at 597 thousand, 13 thousand more subscribers than in the previous quarter (+2.2 per cent), and 72 thousand more than in 2Q08 (+13.7 per cent). This increase stems in the most part from the growth in the number of subscribers reported for PTC, which outstripped the decline seen in ZON/TV Cabo's subscribers, especially in the Centre and Lisbon regions. In the Azores, PTC's growth was not enough to offset the fall suffered by Grupo ZON/TV Cabo, with the growth rates turning negative.
The number of subscribers to other subscription TV offers (xDSL/IP, FWA and FTTH) was reported at 322 thousand in second quarter of 2009, 14 per cent more than in the previous quarter (an addition of 40 thousand subscribers). It should be noticed that during this quarter PTC launched an offer of subscription television over optical fibre (FTTx). This is the third offer of this type launched in Portugal after TVTel's offer, launched in mid 2007 and Sonaecom’s offer, launched at the end of 2008. As of the end of second quarter of 2009, there were around 5,700 subscribers to TV over optical fibre, with Sonaecom the main provider of this service.
While the remaining regions saw higher rates of growth, in absolute terms the most significant growth in alternative platforms is reported in Lisbon, the North and Centre; around 29 thousand of the 40 thousand new subscribers are located in these regions.
Consult:
- Television Subscription Services - 2nd quarter 2009 https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=976111
