Brazil's pay-TV losses accelerate


Details

Juan Fernandez Gonzalez

| 21 January 2016




Latin America's second largest pay-TV market seems to be going flat, losing nearly 600,000 subs between January and November 2015.



The latest figures published by Brazil's telecom authority, Anatel, confirm the drop. During September 2015 the market dropped 100,000 subs, and in October 250,000 more households stopped paying for TV.

Since January 2015, when pay-TV exceeded 19.7 million subs, the industry has seen continual losses, and subscriber figures are now showing 19.16 million accesses by November 2015, representing a 28.9% penetration.

The greatest loss comes from direct-to-home (DTH) operators, which had 650,000 less subscribers in November than in January. Cable operators have actually managed to gain some subs, and own 50,000 more households than at the beginning of 2015. However, satellite still owns 58.6% of Brazil's pay-TV market, compared to cable's 40.4%.

The leading provider, Claro, has dropped over 200,000 subs, the same amount as second place, SKY. Telefónica, the third largest player, has actually seen growth since the beginning of the year, but the latest figures show 15,000 subs less than the previous month.