UK Multi-Channel TV Sector Grows By 2.8% In Third Quarter
The number of multi-channel television subscribers in the UK increased by 2.8% between Q2 and Q3 this year, with the growth largely driven by BSkyB, according to the latest statistics from the Independent Television Commission (ITC).
Total cable subscribers decreased by 2.0% to 3.38 million, whilst Sky’s customer base increase by 3.4% to 6.06 million. The cable sector, which comprises NTL and Telewest Communications, saw its analogue customers fall by 6.2% to 1.33 million, whilst digital subs grew by 0.9% to 2.04 million.
| UK TV Platform Subscriber Figures | |||
| Q2 2002 | Q3 2002 | Quarterly growth rate | |
| Pay TV | |||
| Analogue cable | 1,417,000 | 1,334,105 | -6.2% |
| Digital cable | 2,026,000 | 2,044,085 | 0.9% |
| Total cable | 3,443,000 | 3,378,190 | -2.0% |
| Digital DTH | 5,867,895 | 6,062,548 | 3.3% |
| DSL | 18,943 | 16,83 | -12.5% |
| Free-to-air (FTA) | |||
| FTA DTT (ITC estimates) | 914,000 | 1,028,000 | -20.3% |
| FTA DTH (estimates) | 483,500 | 546,875 | 13.1% |
| Total FTA households | 1,397,500 | 1,574,875 | 12.7% |
| Total | |||
| Total UK multi-channel households | 10,727,338 | 11,032,897 | 2.8% |
| Total UK digital households | 9,310,338 | 9,698,792 | 4.2% |
| Multi-channel penetration | 43.8% | 45.0% | 1.2% points |
| Digital penetration | 38.0% | 39.5% | 1.5% points |
| Source: ITC, December 2002 | |||
Platforms Following the collapse of ITV Digital a significant number of viewers have left the digital terrestrial platform leading to a drop in DTT households; some of these have moved to the other pay TV platforms, says the ITC.
Shares of the multichannel TV market by platform are as shown.
| DTH (BSkyB) Trends | ||
| Q2 | Q3 | |
| Â TV homes connected | 5,867,895 | 6,062,548 |
| Â Digital TV homes connected | 5,867,895 | 6,062,548 |
| Â ARPU | £347 | £348 |
| Â Churn | 10.5% | 9.6% |
| Â Base package price | £10 | £10 |
| Source: ITC, December 2002 | ||
Sky has re-affirmed its target of 7.0 million subscribers (including the Republic of Ireland) by December 2003. This would require an average of 136,400 net additions per quarter, says the ITC. (Growth rates have been 192,000 net additions per quarter for the 2001/2002 financial year).
Sky has also re-iterated its goal of achieving average revenue per user (ARPU) of £400 by 2003. The quarterly annualised ARPU for the period ending 30 Sept 2002 stood at £348. This represented an increase of 10% on last year.
| Cable Trends | ||||
| NTL | Telewest | |||
| Q2 2002 | Q3 2002 | Q2 2002 | Q3 2002 | |
| Â Homes passed | 7,729,800 | 7,733,000 | 4,699,473 | 4,700,923 |
| Â Total residential subscribers | 2,696,200 | 2,667,000 | 1,770,437 | 1,758,234 |
| Â TV homes connected | 2,109,100 | 2,065,300 | 1,333,083 | 1,304,835 |
| Â Digital TV homes connected | 1,206,800 | 1,207,800 | 818,780 | 829,196 |
| Â TV Penetration rate | 27.3% | 26.7% | 28.4% | 27.8% |
| Â ARPU | £486.48 | £477.60 | £503.40 | £499.08 |
| Â Churn rate | 17.1% | 16.4% | 20.7% | 21.4% |
| Â Base package price | £20 | £20 | £15 | £15 |
| Source: ITC, December 2002 | ||||
| DTT Trends | ||
| Q2 | Q3 | |
| Â Digital TV Homes connected | 914,000 | 1,028,000 |
| Â ITV Digital STB | 600,000 | 600,000 |
| Â Other STB | 30,000 | 120,000 |
| Â IDTV sets | 284,000 | 308,000 |
| Source: ITC, December 2002 | ||