Pay TV subscriptions drop for the first time since 2009

Increase in Internet Protocol TV insufficient to compensate for declines in Digital Terrestrial TV subscriptions and cable-based TV subscriptions.

30 June 2013, 12:00am
by Matthew Vella

1 min read

For the first time since 2009, Malta's pay TV sector reported a drop in the overall number of subscriptions, with more consumers showing a preference for bundled services combining a broadband connection with their television packages.

But this increase in Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) subscriptions was insufficient to compensate for the declines in Digital Terrestrial TV (DTTV) subscriptions and cable-based TV subscriptions.

Pay TV is delivered to households and businesses using cable, aerial broadcast or through Internet broadband.

But the industry also faces tough competition from black-market satellite TV outfits and the proliferation of the Dreambox satellite receiver, which is connected to a dish on the roof and the Internet. The Dreambox receiver uses card-sharing and illegal software patches to transmit satellite TV to a number of users, and is especially sought after by football fans wanting access to the Sky UK or Sky Italia packages.

"Any commercial entity, irrespective of the sector in which it operates, has to contend with competition from illegal practices present in its market," a spokesperson for the MCA told MaltaToday.

"Pay TV is no exception. The market for content provision and distribution is currently going through major structural changes and facing both legal and illegal competition over various channels, primarily today from over-the-top online sources.

Full report in MaltaToday's print edition

Matthew Vella, a freelance journalist at MaltaToday, was formerly executive editor at Malt...

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Illum jezistu wkoll id-digital free-to-air receivers li ssib tixtrihom mill-internet - b'din jircievi hafna aktar stazzjonijiet milli wiehed ihallas ghall-istazzjonijiet bazici minghajr ma joqghod ihallas.

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Hello! If those channels you advertise I can see them for FREE either on Satellite and or Aerial, why should I support your service. After all I did not ask for your service and do not want it. By the way thanks for your kindness when programs that we receive we have them blocked half way in the show over and over. Who said we are not a Banana Republic. Even the air waves are monopolized by a hand full of millionaires some local and some foreigners.