China Telecom, Tata Sky India and GVT Brazil are driving the global pay TV growth in the third quarter of 2013, said Infonetics Research.
In the third quarter of 2013, China Telecom’s pay-TV subscribers reached 25.3 million, Tata Sky 11.5 million and GVT Brazil 567,000.
The top 5 satellite providers by subscribers are, in rank order, DirecTV US, DISH Network, DirecTV Latin America, Tata Sky, and British Sky Broadcasting.
AT&T, China Telecom, Iliad Group, Orange, and Verizon are the leaders in the IPTV subscriber market, said Infonetics.
“What’s driving growth in pay-television are the emerging markets of Latin America, China, and India. India and Latin America are adding satellite and cable subscribers, while China is seeing an increase in IPTV subscribers,” said Jeff Heynen, principal analyst for broadband access and pay TV at Infonetics Research.
Infonetics Research said Latin America’s economy, in particular, is performing well, with companies investing in Brazil ahead of the FIFA World Cup and consumers signing up for pay-TV services to the tune of 9 percent growth in the third quarter of 2013 from the year-ago period.
DirecTV Latin America saw a 15 percent increase year-over-year (3Q13 over 3Q12) in satellite subscribers.
Comcast, the world’s leading provider of cable TV services, lost 355,000 subscribers over four quarters, with 21.6 million subscribers as of 3Q13.
The decline in cable subscribers across all operators is attributable more to churn than cord cutting as consumers defect to IPTV and satellite, often to take advantage of promotional offers.
