Multi-play with TV rises in price in Spain, but continues to grow

The price of quad-play packages in Spain that exclude TV fell, but the price of quint-play services that also cover pay TV rose over the course of 2021, according to figures released by the CNMC, the country’s markets regulator.

According to the watchdog, the price of quad-play packages comprising fixed and mobile telephony and fixed and mobile broadband fell by 5%, with post-paid mobile services falling by an average of 6.8%, but the price of quint-play packages including pay TV rose by 2.8%.

Quad-play homes were paying an average of €46.60 in the fourth quarter, while quint-play homes with pay TV paid an average of €80.10.

The price of quad-play without TV has fallen steadily over the course of the last five years, but the price of quint-play services rose in 2019 before falling in 2020 and then rising again.

The CNMC found that two in five Spanish hones took quint-play services thus defined in 2021, up two percentage points on the previous year.

Overall, 40.3% of homes took such a service, compared with 31.4% who took fixed and mobile phone and internet packages without TV.

Of the remainder, 13.3% took mobile phone and internet only, 7.2% took telephony only and 7.7% took some other combination.

Some 47.8% of Spanish homes took pay TV, a figure that has continued to climb steadily. Some 23.7% of home said that they took pay TV primarily because it was included in a multi-play package, while 19.5% said they subscribed to have access to channels offering TV series and 14.4% said they signed up for access to live sport.