Sky to overtake Liberty in Western Europe

Liberty Global has been the largest pay-TV operator in Europe for some time (with assets both in the West and in the East). However, its top slot in Western Europe is under threat, with Sky Europe [satellite subs only] expected to overtake its subscriber count in 2017, according to a report from Digital TV Research.

Liberty Global’s subscriber count will fall as the company has to try to convert 8 million analog cable subs in 2010 to none by 2020 – some of these subs will be lost to other digital platforms. To put it another way, Liberty Global’s analogue TV revenues [subscriptions and PPV] in Western Europe in 2010 were $1.5 billion (29 per cent of its total) – but they will fall to nothing by 2020.

Pay-TV subscriptions for the 66 operators across 15 countries covered in the Western Europe Pay-TV Operator Forecasts report will increase from a collective 82 million in 2010 to 93.1 million by 2020. Covering 98 platforms, these operators will continue to represent just under 90 per cent of Western European pay-TV subscribers.

Only 36 (55 per cent) of these operators will add to subscribers between 2014 and 2020. Traditional pay TV operators now face greater rivalry than ever before – either from other pay TV platforms such as IPTV or satellite or from “free” multichannel TV services such as DTT and OTT TV and video (such as Netflix). …

… read on at advanced-television.com

Originally posted at Advanced Television
9th September 2015