LatAm pay TV subscriber numbers to reach 83.6m

The number of pay TV subscribers in Latin America is tipped to climb from 72.02 million by end-2016 to 83.56 million by 2021, according to new research.

The Digital TV Research report claims that Latin America’s top two pay TV operators will account for nearly half the region’s pay TV subscribers by the end of 2016.

DirecTV/Sky will account for 20.2 million subscribers and Claro/America Movil for 15.2 million this year, with the companies set to maintain their share for the next five years.

The Latin America Pay TV Operator Forecasts report claims that 25 operators will collectively account for 88% of Latin American pay TV subscribers by the end of 2016.

These top 25 will also maintain a 90%+ share of Latin American pay TV revenues for the next five years, with pay TV revenues in the region tipped to grow from US$18.31 billion in 2016 to US$19.82 billion by 2021.

The report also singles out Telefonica/Movistar, Tigo/Millicom and Liberty Global as pan-regional operators that “harbour ambitions to increase their regional market shares”.

“There are some sizeable domestic players beyond the pan-regional players. Argentina’s Cablevision, which also has operations in neighbouring Uruguay, will climb to fourth place by 2021,” according to the report.

DirecTV Latin America provides service in the region through three divisions: Brazil, Mexico and PanAmericana, which provides services in nine territories. DirecTV Latin America owns 93% of Sky Brasil, 41% of Sky Mexico.

Claro Americas is part of América Móvil, a Mexican telecom group that has operations in 18 countries in the Americas.