UK research outfit Informa says that Digital TV will treble in Latin America over the next 5 years rising from just 5.9 million homes today to 22.8 million by 2012. The numbers are released in the latest edition of Informa’s Americas TV report. (To see full report with diagrams, see pdf version of Faultline)
The researcher said that while Brazil and Mexico account for more 66% of the region’s digital subscribers between them now, this will fall to 55% as other countries see their services take off.
The company said, ‘The outlook for the Latin American broadcast sector is better now than it has been for many years. Macroeconomic factors are generally upbeat while companies such as Telmex and Telefonica are ramping up their investment in the broadcast sector. All of this is having a positive impact on pretty much all of the TV platforms.’
Also Informa says that deregulation has encouraged cable operators to up their game with network improvements and the result is that cable is much better positioned to compete that it has been in the past. Consolidation in the satellite sector has also started to pay off and the renewed confidence in DTH was demonstrated by Telefonica’s decision to launch a new platform there.
Looking at the Americas as a whole, the US is, as would be expected, the dominant force. In 2006 it had 67.6 million digital subscribers ‘ 85% of the pan-continental total. By 2012 this proportion is expected to fall to 77%.