Pay TV attracts Fixed Telephony Operators
After spending several years in the same situation (more details), Pay TV has been growing in Brazil and reached 4.6 million subscribers in 2006.
Source: Anatel, ABTA and Teleco
This growth was stimulated by the joint offer of Broad Band and Pay TV. Teleco esteems that Pay TV operators will finish 2006 with 1.2 million Broad Band connections.
For not making use of the possibility to offer Broad Band, Pay TV operators via Satellite (DTH) are in disadvantage comparing to the others. The participation of these operators in the total of Pay TV subscribers decreased from 34.4% in 2005 to 32.3% in 2006. With the joint venture, Sky/DirecTV have more than 90% of the DTH subscribers in Brazil.
Net, Vivax and TVA are the main operators of Cable TV/MMDS.
| Thousands | 2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
|
| Net | 1,419 |
1,540 |
1,812 |
58.4% |
| Vivax | 270 |
294 |
328 |
10.6% |
| TVA | 294 |
290 |
328 |
10.6% |
| Others | 518 |
614 |
635 |
20.5% |
| Total (Anatel) | 2,501 |
2,738 |
3,104 |
100.0% |
With networks convergence, what it's imagined in the future is an IP network till the house of the subscriber, providing Broad Band access to the Internet, VOIP Telephony and Pay TV (IPTV). This perspective is motivating offers of packages like triple play (Pay TV, Broad band and Telephony) for the Pay TV operators.
According to this situation, Fixed Telephony operators redoubled its interest in this segment in the whole world. The additional Revenue proceeding from Pay TV offers can help to compensate the losses in Fixed Telephony tried by these operators. Teleco esteems in R$ 5.5 Billion the Net Income of Pay TV operators in 2006.
Pay TV reach a very rich population, rich market in Brazil. According to 2005 data from IBOPE, 78% were Classes A and B (rich people). Net presented an ARPU of R$ 118 in the 4Q06 and Vivax R$ 102.
Telmex/Embratel started to lead this market, with the acquisition of a participation in Net and later on the acquisition of Vivax, still waiting for Anatel's approval. This group has gotten in 2006 market share of 69% of subscribers Cable TV/MMDS, or 46.7% of the Pay TV total. Net Fone via Embratel (VOIP Telephony) has reached 182 thousand subscribers in 9 months of operation.
Telefonica announced in Oct/06 the acquisition of TVA's MMDS and participation in the Cable TV Operators that just can be granted to companies on brazilian control (mais detalhes). Telemar acquired in 2006 Way TV which had 41 thousand Pay TV subscribers in 2005.
While waiting Anatel/CADE's approval of these acquisitions, these operators are doing some partnerships to offer "triple-play" packages. Telefonica with TVA and DTHi (via satellite). Telemar and BrT announced similar partnership with SKY/DIRECTV.
Even though, the growth of the last two years, Pay TV still has low insertion in Brazil (2.5 subscribers per 100 inhabitants). The price of basic packages represent a entrance barrier for a bigger service diffusion. According to Anatel's data the average price of the basic plans in 2006 was R$ 51.00.
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