Growing preference of watching TV through internet

99% of Maltese households have a TV set at home, a consumer perception survey by the Malta Communications Authority found.

But 19% of households claim to view TV via the internet, and 27% of these households consider internet TV as a good substitute to traditional TV. TV series, followed by live streaming programmes and sports, have been found to be most viewed over the Internet.

In terms of quality satisfaction levels, an average of more than 70% of pay-TV subscribers say they are satisfied or highly satisfied with the quality of their TV connection service, of which, 78% are GO DTTV subscribers, 70% are Melita Digital subscribers while 66% are subscribed to the Melita analogue service.

The findings of the survey also show that a great number of households are not familiar with the basic terms and conditions of their contract, with 48% and 38% of Melita digital subscribers and GO DTTV subscribers respectively not aware of their subscription (contract) period.

Similarly, around 25% of Pay-TV subscribers do not know how much they are paying for their TV service. The majority of those households that are however aware of how much they are paying for their TV service conclude that price levels are neither expensive nor cheap.

“It is very important that consumers are aware of all the conditions that they enter into when subscribing to a service. This will ultimately diminish the possibility of conflict between the consumer and the service provider and thus lead to a more positive customer experience. This does not however exonerate the service provider from its obligation to provide all the information necessary to the consumers in order for the latter to make more informed decisions,” said Ing. Philip Micallef, Executive Chairman of the MCA.

“In fact, recent changes to the EU regulatory framework has given more protection to the consumers and strengthened obligations relating to transparency of information in this regard.”

Around 30% of Melita digital subscribers and 57% of GO DTTV subscribers today claim to have their TV connection forming part of a bundle of services.

Around 16% of Pay-TV households are also subscribed to one or more premium channels (such as sports or movie channels) – 6 percentage points less than in 2009.

The survey also highlights that 12% of households with a TV subscription have switched from one type of TV connection to another over the last two years. Commonly suggested reasons for switching included the bundle offer and better price levels.

With respect to the Digital Audio Broadcasting plus (DAB+) radio sets the survey indicates low penetration with only 3% of households confirming to have such a platform.