Mexico’s Megacable sees losses after Televisa break-up
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Juan Fernandez Gonzalez
| 05 July 2017

Megacable has reported sustained pay-TV subscriber losses over the last two quarters, following the end of its commercial relationships with Televisa.

Although the company continues banking on video as a revenue generator, having recently announced a major expansion of its streaming TV everywhere service, pay-TV remains a declining business for Megacable.

Q3 2016 was the last quarter of pay-TV growth for Megacable, which closed the period with 0.8% more subscribers. However, this figure indicated a slowdown when compared with previous growth rates of over 14%.

In Q1 2017 the telecom operator was losing over 63,000 subscribers and 2% of the total subs compared to Q1 2016. In fact, 3.4% of pay-TV clients left the company during the quarter, a figure only compensated for by the additions.

As for revenues, pay-TV still represents over a third of Megacable’s incomes despite invoicing 4% less than a year ago. The numbers compare badly to its broadband and phone businesses, which are on the up, having risen by 13% and 23%, respectively.

According to the company, video revenues decreased due to falling subscriber numbers and growing convergent offerings, which, however, have boosted its broadband and phone businesses.

Although the company has not named the Televisa break-up as a reason behind the falling pay-TV numbers, it’s hard not to see a direct link. “Ending the commercial relationship with Televisa Networks, the most watched pay-TV channels, and replacing them for low audience channels, has greatly affected Megacable,” said a report published by Mexico’s El Economista.