Datamonitor Expects Pay-TV Revenues To Double By 2007

European consumers spent almost $18 million on pay-TV services in 2003 and the total is expected to more than double by 2007, according to a new report by Datamonitor, a market-research company. However, the report also cautioned that new subscriber acquisitions to pay-TV services would slow due to competition from basic and free, over-the-air digital television services.

Adrian Drozd, a Datamonitor analyst, said, “It is essential that pay-TV operators react to recent changes in the DTV sector in order to retain their leading position in the multi-channel environment. With subscriber growth expected to slow due to the greater levels of competition increasingly evident from basic and FTA (free-to-air) DTV services, pay-TV operators need to leverage their existing customers to generate greater financial return.”