Televisa reigns in Mexican pay-TV


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Juan Fernandez Gonzalez

| 10 February 2016




At a time when the discussion about preponderant telcos is a hot topic in Mexico, the market regulator has revealed that Televisa owns over six in ten pay-TV subscriptions.



Through six different operations, including cable TV and direct-to-home (DTH), Televisa has no rival within the sector, with Dish (with 16% penetration) and Megacable (15%) being the other two largest groups in the market.

Despite of an apparent lack of competition, Mexico's pay-TV market looks healthy, according to the Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones’ (IFT) IFT quarterly report. By the end of Q3 2015, there were 17.4 million subscriptions in the country, 1.3 million more than at the beginning of the year, representing a 53% penetration.

Satellite platforms are clearly leading the industry, with nearly 60% of total subscriptions. As of September 2015, SKY (Grupo Televisa) was the most subscribed to satellite platform, owning 38.2% of the whole pay-TV market.

In a country that has just carried out the analogue switch-off for free-to-air (FTA) TV, pay-TV continues gaining audiences, with nearly 30% viewers choosing pay-TV over FTA. In addition, the report shows the eruption of online and over-the-top (OTT) platforms, which are chosen as a main video source by 12.5% of Mexicans.

Indeed, OTT is the only TV option for América Móvil, Mexico's largest telco, which has been banned from getting a pay-TV licence.