Deutsche Telekom German TV best delivers growth

Deutsche Telekom saw its domestic German TV base grow and deliver a significant boost in revenue, helped by the popularity of the service during the COVID-19 lockdown and the addition of new exclusive content in its Megathek on-demand offering. Numbers elsewhere in Europe showed a mixed picture, however.

Deutsche Telekom had 3.724 million TV customers in Germany at the end of the period, up by 1.3% quarter-on-quarter and 7.1% year-on-year. The group added 106,000 TV customers in Germany in the first half of the year, compared with 170,000 broadband customers.

Telekom said its focus for the fixed network remains on the development of converged products including its MagentaTV service and a focus on TV numbers as well as fibre.

TV revenues in Germany in Q2 amounted to €438 million, up by 10.3%, which Telekom attributed to the range of services it now offered.

In Europe outside Germany, Telekom’s TV numbers were more or less flat. Overall the group’s TV base grew by 0.4% quarter-on-quarter and 1% year-on-year to land at 4.96 million. The company noted that with both telecommunications providers and OTT players offering TV services, the TV market is already saturated in many countries.

The overall Europe number did however disguise significant regional variations.

Greece’s OTE saw TV numbers rise by 3.7% year-on-year to 562,000, but OTE-owned Telekom Romania saw numbers fall by 9% to 1.256 million.

In Hungary, Magyar Telekom’s TV subscribers grew by 6.1% to 1.191 million, while Telekom’s unit in the Czech Republic saw numbers rise by 58.4%, albeit from a small base, to 179,000.

In Croatia, numbers were flat, ending June with 492,000 TV subscribers. In Slovakia, the TV base rose by 2.7% to 640,000. In Austria, the former UPC cable base of TV customers declined by 3.4% to 427,000.