One in four Spanish homes pays for TV


Details

Juan Fernandez Gonzalez

| 08 December 2015




Although still far below the average figures in Western Europe, pay-TV in Spain is showing strong growth, hitting nearly 25% of homes.



Convergence and fibre infrastructure have driven the sector from 3.7 million subscribers in 2013 to nearly 5.5 million at the end of Q2 2015, according to figures from the Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (CNMC).

Indeed, among the 24.4% of families subscribing to pay-TV services, almost half said they started paying for TV because their telecoms operator offered a multi-play service. Better content, especially series, was named as the second most important reason to choose pay-TV.

Technology and infrastructure also seem to be driving pay-TV penetration with the last 12 months having seen pay-TV add 1.4 million subs, almost all coming from IPTV fibre-based convergent packages.

By the end of the first half of 2015, 49.4% of homes had a triple-play service with fixed and mobile phone and Internet, while 21.9% chose to add pay-TV to the offer.

Since June 2014, pay-TV has grown by 11.4% in Spain, only exceeded by broadband (up 13.4%) as the fastest-growing telecom service in the country.