- Service bundles to further increase adoption of pay TV services

SAO PAULO, Nov. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Cable TV and direct to home (DTH) operators' increased geographic coverage of Pay TV services will take the Latin American Pay TV services market to the next level of competitiveness. The rising competition among cable TV and DTH operators, and Internet protocol TV (IPTV) operators in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico will improve the availability and quality of services, add value to service offerings, and enhance price points.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http://www.ipcommunications.frost.com), Latin American Pay TV Services Markets, 2011, finds that the market earned $15.23 billion in 2011 and estimates this to reach $28.75 billion in 2017.

Higher investments by Cable TV and IPTV operators will encourage market participants to stretch their services beyond urban areas and cover the underserved small and medium cities as well. This is expected to be a potentially lucrative segment, as the low-income group is increasingly subscribing to Pay TV services on the back of the region's higher economic growth.

Subscribers are also adopting Pay TV services due to the availability of bundles combining TV, fixed, mobile telephony, and broadband. This trend has gained momentum with the merger of the fixed and mobile operations of America Movil and Telefonica S.A. in several countries in Latin America.

"The entrance of telecommunications companies will intensify competition in the market," said Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Guilherme Faggion. "The emergence of IPTV services in all the countries in Latin America; the launch of hybrid DTH, IPTV, and digital terrestrial television set-top-boxes; as well as the deregulation of cable TV in Brazil are likely to solidify this trend."

However, the heavy tax burden on Pay TV services, especially in Brazil, and the difficulty of obtaining return on investment (ROI) from the implementation of networks in distant geographic areas and small cities challenges operators' ability to gain scale and offer convergent services over networks.

Currently, the over the top (OTT) market is not a threat to the market, but that may change, depending on the quality of broadband offerings, applications with attractive content for the Latin American market, and installed base of video games and SmaTVs boxes such as Apple TV.

In the current scenario, Latin America Pay TV operators have to negotiate with content providers and suppliers to launch novel, lower-priced plans, and even prepaid plans, which can buffer the lack of government incentives and the high taxes.

"Investments in wireless technologies and hybrid set-top-boxes will aid the offer of lower-priced services aimed at low-income users," noted Faggion. "This will considerably enlarge the subscriber base and open up additional revenue streams."

If you are interested in more information on this research, please send an email to Francesca Valente, Corporate Communications, at francesca.valente@frost.com, with your full name, company name, job title, telephone number, company email address, company website, city, state, and country.

Latin American Pay TV Services Markets, 2011 is part of the Telecom Services Growth Partnership Services program, which also includes research in the following markets: Latin American Data Communications Services Markets, Latin American Broadband Services Markets, Brazilian Total Telecommunications Services Market, and Colombian Total Telecommunications Services Market. All research services included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends that have been evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants.

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Latin American Pay TV Services Markets, 2011
NB10-63

Contact:
Francesca Valente
Corporate Communications – Latin America
P: +54-11-4777-5300
F: +54-11-4777-5300
E: francesca.valente@frost.com

http://www.frost.com