Emerging markets to take pay TV revenues to US$200 billion

Global pay TV revenues will reach US$200 billion (€163 billion) in 2017, an increase of US$23 billion on the 2011 figure, according to forecasts from Digital TV Research.

The expected growth of 13.5% masks an expected fall in North America and growth of only 3.5% in western Europe. Growth will be driven primarily by Latin America, eastern Europe and the Asia Pacific region, according to the report.

The Digital TV World Revenue Forecasts report predicts that DTH revenues will overtake cable in 2015 and will reach US$91 billion in 2017, driven by growth in Brazil and the continued strength of the US market. However, report author Simon Murray says that while Brazilian DTH will nearly double its revenues between now and 2017, some 17 countries will see declines in DTH revenues due to price competition.

Murray predicts that cable TV revenues will slide from 2014, and will fall by US$3.2 billion between 2011 and 2017 to US$85 billion. Cable operators’ overall revenues will grow however, as they increasingly sell bundles of TV with internet access and telephony. Digital cable TV revenues will also grow by a predicted 32% to US$81 billion by 2017, according to the report, driven by China and Japan.