Europe, Middle East and Africa Markets

Reflecting the rising importance of the telcos, IPTV is gaining subscribers in Western Europe at the expense of the other pay TV platforms. IPTV overtook satellite TV in 2015 and will be approaching cable by 2024. IPTV will add 5.5 million subscribers between 2018 and 2024.

CANAL+ Group is acquiring M7, one of the largest independent pay-TV companies in Europe operating in Benelux and Central Europe. M7 is owned by Astorg, a leading European private equity firm. This acquisition is subject to the European Commission’s approval.

M7 is an aggregator and distributor of local and international channels via satellite and OTT platforms. It has developed a presence in the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania where it has a total of 3 million subscribers, of which 0.8 million to a basic access package.

Globecast, the global solutions provider for media, announced that Jack Braybrook has joined the content and distribution team as Account Manager, Distribution, and James Whittaker has joined the contribution team as Business Development Manager OU Sports and Events. Both are based in the UK with their roles effectively immediately.

Rethink Technology Research’s Rethink TV service has launched a new report which shows how Direct to Home satellite TV (DTH) subscriber falls will accelerate and spread from North America to Europe and eventually to the Far East. Where subscribers numbers rise there will be falls in ARPU.

The new report is entitled, “Who benefits as Global DTH revenue set to shed $ billions – Forecast to 2024” and it is part of the Rethink TV series of forecasts, sold by Rethink as a subscription service.