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Report: Pay-TV Markets Rebound in 2010

By Mark Holmes | January 17, 2011

[Satellite TODAY Insider 01-17-11] The value of the worldwide pay-TV market increased by 7.1 percent to $381.5 billion in 2010, signaling a return to positive revenue growth after the sector decreased in value in 2009, according to Idate’s World TV Markets report, released Jan. 14.
    Despite difficult economic conditions, the French analyst firm said strong take-up of pay-TV services and an influx of new advertising revenues helped fuel profits in 2010.
“The pay-TV sector has consolidated its new status as the industry’s most important source of income, generating 48 percent of the sector’s revenue in 2010 versus 43 percent for advertising. These percentages should remain more or less stable in the coming years,” Idate TV and Digital Content Business Unit Director Florence Le Borgne said in the report.    
    Satellite operators contributed a significant amount of the growth in emerging markets by launching a number of new DTH platforms that have increased demands for capacity. The fast-growing HD market also played a vital role in most pay-TV operator strategies. In 2010, pay-TV operators started operations in Asia, Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe, as operators began to target emerging middle classes in the region. While Latin America still accounts for less than 8 percent of the overall TV market, the region was the only one that saw double-digit growth. According to Idate, revenues in the Latin America TV market grew by nearly 13 percent in 2010, with Brazil making up 44 percent of the regional market.
     Europe’s overall revenues increased by 6.6 percent to 84.4 billion euros ($111.3 billion) in 2010, with the United Kingdom, Germany and France representing 56 percent of the region’s revenue. In Asia, strong performances by major territories such as China, Japan and India fueled 9 percent growth in pay-TV revenues in 2010.
    According to Idate, the United States remains the largest television market in the world, with revenues of $135.89 billion in 2010 — an increase of 4.5 percent from 2009, when the regional market saw a 1 percent dip in overall revenues. However, North American’s share of the global market continued to decline this year by to 37 percent.

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