Costa Rica’s pay-TV industry loses $45MN due to irregularities

Juan Fernandez Gonzalez | 21-07-2013


Costa Rica has 11% of pay-TV users connected in an illegal way and 34% are not being properly declared by the operators, according to the latest Business Bureau report. This amounted to a loss of nearly $45 million in 2012, even in a small audience such as Costa Rica's, which has 545,000 pay-TV subscribers.

Some 42% of Costa Rica’s population is connected to pay-TV while 22% is covered by digital TV and 20% pays for direct-to-home services, says the report. The average user pays $33 per month and has access to around 400 different signals, 28 of which are HD.
The TV operators in Latin America are fighting against piracy and a lack of regulations for pay-TV. In both Guatemala and the Dominican Republic, 22% of pay-TV users are connected illegally, while in El Salvador and Nicaragua the figure is 50%.
According to Business Bureau, Central America ended 2012 with a $650 million pay-TV loss due to irregularities.
Over the past year, the main TV companies have started to react against piracy through an organisation called Alianza, which aims to stop the illegal activity.