Satellite Leads the Latin American Pay TV Charge

London, UK, April 18, 2013--After a slow start, digital TV penetration is about to rocket in Latin America – from less than a third of homes at end-2012 to nearly 45% by end-2013 and onto 84% by 2018, according to a new report from Digital TV Research. To put it another way, 100 million digital TV households (in the 19 countries covered in the Digital TV Latin America report) will be added between 2011 and 2018 to take the total to 134 million.

Simon Murray, Principal Analyst at Digital TV Research, said: “Much of this growth is being driven by satellite TV, especially lower-cost and prepaid packages. Nearly 19 million pay DTH households will be added between 2012 and 2018, with 5 million more in 2013 alone.” 

Murray continued: “Cable operators have been slow to react to the benefits of digital TV and bundles – and the immediate threat posed after a DTH platform launches. However, this attitude is changing, with 14 million digital cable subscribers to be added between 2012 and 2018. Conversely, the number of analog cable subscribers will fall by 9 million. Analog cable subscribers will not automatically convert to digital cable. IPTV will climb from fewer than 1 million subscribers in 2012 to nearly 6 million by 2018.”

Satellite TV has also benefitted from the slow roll-out of DTT. The number of primary DTT homes will climb from 10 million at end-2012 to 22 million this year and onto 59 million by 2018. The analog terrestrial total will fall from 79 million at end-2012 to 15 million by 2018.

Brazil, Mexico and Argentina dominate the region. Brazil alone will add 43 million digital TV households between 2012 and 2018, with Mexico contributing an extra 15 million. However, digital TV households will also increase rapidly in the other 16 countries covered in this report – collectively adding 24 million digital homes between 2012 and 2018.