DTH in Latin America

Regional focus believes the fact that Latin America has a more DTH in Latin America youthful demographic profile than many other The World Cup and Olympic Games will drive much TV more established TV growth in Latin America, but the region has much more markets will drive more going for it than those two events. Dave Adams reports demand for more on how the main satellite operators are responding to interactive TV services over the next decade. these developments This is a reasonable, broad summary of what t’s probably fair to say that for many years Regional trends, local dynamics is happening across LatAm, but of course the Latin America was not a top priority for Satellite will be important not just because it can picture is complicated. Brazil, Mexico, Colombia many in the international TV industry, be the best way to get TV signals to households in and almost certainly Argentina, despite adverse distracted instead by the bright lights of the some regions, but also because of the growth in economic and political factors in play at present, long established TV markets in Europe, demand for video and other media distribution will all be important, complex and quite different North America and Asia; and by other services, driven by greater smartphone markets in their own right within this picture. emerging markets elsewhere. penetration. Dolores Martos, vice-president sales “This is a region which is very much in our But in recent years that has changed. TV for Latin America and the Caribbean at SES, focus,” says Steven Soenens, vice-president, Iservices are evolving and gathering new viewers quickly across the region. The DTH market there will grow from 22 million in 2012 to 40 million in 2017; and then 46 million in 2022, according to a study published by Northern Sky Research (NSR) in late 2013. Over the next five years LatAm will be the fastest growing region in the world for DTH subscriptions and revenue. NSR predicts the most significant growth will be in basic packages, from 18 million today to 34 million, while premium subscriptions increase from around two million to almost eight million by 2022. A majority of those subscriptions will come in the latter part of this period, as basic subscribers upgrade to HD-led, higher ARPU generating services. Overall subscription revenue is expected to rise from just under $4 billion in 2012 to about $12 billion in 2022. Premium package will then account for 27% of that figure ($3.25 billion), up from 16% and $626 million today. These predictions complement the findings of a 2013 Digital TV Research study which predicted a rapid rise in digital TV penetration in Latin America, from 32% in 2012 to 45% today, with DTH satellite subscribers again accounting for much of this growth. It predicted DTH household numbers would rise by almost 19 million between 2012 and 2018. In the shorter term, it is clear that the 2014 football World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, both of which will be held in Brazil, will also stimulate some development. 22 March-April 2014 www.csimagazine.com Regional focus product management, at Newtec. “Three years ago there were 3,500 channels in Latin America and three years from now there will be 5,000 channels. A lot of that content will be HD.” While in some cases incumbent providers have a tight grip, many new entrants, particularly from the telco sector, are starting to enjoy some success in attracting triple play subscriptions. The growth of services has been particularly impressive in Brazil, where Sky, Vivo, Claro, GVT and Oi are all active in the DTH sector. In January 2014, Star One, a subsidiary of Embratel, announced it will launch another new satellite, C-4, which will have 48 Ku band transponders, to increase Claro’s capacity for Brazil and compete for DTH services across LatAm. SES has responded to growing demand for capacity by deploying its AMC-3 satellite to 67 degrees West, where it and AMC-4 now serve Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, with 28 Ku-band transponders. In June 2013 it launched SES-6, in part to help Brazilian operator Oi increase its DTH HD subscriber base. Eutelsat has announced that it will launch a satellite operators who can provide capacity for new satellite to serve DTH markets in LatinAm in their current programming demands and also 2016, with ten 54MHz transponders to cover grow capacity as channel bouquets expand.” western Brazil, 24 36MHz KU band transponders Brazil is the most complex market in the to cover the Manaus region of Brazil and other region. The shape of the TV landscape is still Spanish-speaking areas of the Caribbean and dictated to some degree by the actions of Globo, LatAm; and 24 Ka band spot beams for the but cable operator NET is also making major largest urban and suburban populations in Brazil investments in its networks – and OTT players and in major cities on the Pacific coast. new capacity and in-orbit redundancy,” says such as Netflix are starting to have an impact. Intelsat has also announced forthcoming Carmen González-Sanfeliu, regional vice- Adriana Whiteley, an associate at Farncombe, launches, of Intelsat 30/DLA-1 and Intelsat 31/ president for Latin America and the Caribbean. says that although cable is still very strong in DLA-2, in 2015. “Each will carry a dedicated “We are also providing significant expansion to Brazil, satellite is growing quickly, by targeting the payload for DirecTV Latin America, providing the Sky Brasil DTH platform with the Intelsat 32e emerging middle classes who have not been well satellite, scheduled for launch in 2016. This will served by pay TV providers in the past. She notes carry the Sky B-1 payload, giving Sky Brasil the that these customers are often also open to the opportunity for additional growth and redundancy idea of becoming triple play subscribers. Satellite “Three years ago from 43 degrees West.” is also making inroads in parts of the country there were 3,500 She also highlights growth in demand from the where free to air TV is available, but reception is company’s other media customers for video poor and digital TV switchover is still some way channels in Latin distribution services. “Many of our media off (a deadline to make the switchover before the customers are emphasising the development of 2016 Olympics has been extended to 2018). America and three local content as well as providing individual González-Sanfeliu quotes Dataxis figures content feeds, such as feeds for each country suggesting that there were over 12 million HD years from now there instead of a single feed for an entire region. This subscriptions in Latin America in October 2013, is driving a change in distribution requirements. 60.2% of which were in Brazil. “There is a solid will be 5,000 Satellite remains a piece of this distribution HD market in the region, especially in Argentina, network, but fibre will play a role in delivering Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and channels. A lot of that single-country feeds that may be distributed by a Venezuela,” she says. “Most HD channels in the single DTH operator or large content aggregator. region belong to pay TV platforms and HD content will be HD.” Media companies will need to partner with content continues to be a strong differentiator in www.csimagazine.com March-April 2014 23 Regional focus events to invest in new technologies. On the consumer side these big events are often drivers for people to invest in new TV sets and packages. This time round we may see people buying new HD and 4k TV sets.” He believes there will be a bright future for the higher quality image services in this region. “Service providers have to compete on the quality of their offering, the quality of their image,” he says. “I do believe we will see some 4k experiments and HD services.” While he thinks some of the most well established operators are at Paolo Bona / Shutterstock.com least as likely to lead in this space as are the newer entrants, he notes that an operator like Oi, the battle for subscribers.” for example, does possess the valuable advantage But there are other factors to bear in mind. of being able to launch HD services without Whiteley notes in particular the impact of “We expect having to worry about legacy equipment. government stipulations that a certain amount of Intelsat’s González-Sanfeliu also highlights each TV package must contain local free to air [UHD/4K] to begin Intelsat’s joint demonstration, with Intelsat, BT, channels, suggesting that complying with this making an impact in Ericsson, Sony and Newtec of a 4k end-to-end demand has affected some operators’ strategies in video transmission over satellite during IBC2013. recent years. LatAm in 2016.” “That marked the first time a full multi-camera Mexico is seen as an exciting market by many production of a sporting event was captured in in the TV industry, as its market is being UHD and transmitted live internationally via deregulated to open up competition. Dolores she says, adding that it’s easier to cover a country satellite and fibre,” says González-Sanfeliu. “We Martos highlights healthy growth in DTH there, with satellite than it is to take fibre everywhere. expect [UHD/4K] to begin making an impact in despite the strength of the incumbent cable TV Elsewhere, Colombia is another healthy, LatAm in 2016.” providers. “DTH has been making inroads,” she growing market, for both cable and DTH satellite, Itzik Wulcan, CEO at NovelSat, reports work says.

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