euro news_news 26/02/2015 10:21 Page 2
European cable operators to accelerate growth
A
ccording to consultancy firm
Solon Management, executives
from leading European cable
operators expect an accelerated
growth rate, forecasting a revenue
increase of 6% per year until 2016.
The 6th Solon Survey of European
Cable
Communication,
underlines the
ongoing success of
the cable industry.
The survey also
reveals that they
foresee a further
increase in
profitability: EBITDA
margin is expected
to reach 51% on
average in 2016.
The Solon Survey
is based on the
feedback of
executives at 14
leading European cable operators from
12 countries. Solon conducts this survey
in cooperation with CTAM Europe every
two years. It is one of the most
comprehensive strategy and
benchmarking studies for the European
cable industry.
“Cable players will
continue to utilise their
network advantages.”
Survey results show that the
industry´s top management attention is
focused on next generation TV, which is
a defensive move due to increasing
competition from DSL / Fibre-Players
and – in Pay-TV – from companies such
as Netflix and Amazon.
According to Matthias Hamel,
managing director, cable operators have
the choice to compete with companies
such as Amazon Instant Video or Netflix
by developing their own video-streaming
products or to integrate them into their
offerings. “The assessment of both
strategic alternatives is largely driven by
a company’s competitive position.
However, recent trends see a
development towards the latter strategy,
Davey to head
content at Sky
industry after a career
spanning several decades
Sky has appointed Gary
Davey, executive vice
president programming at
Sky Deutschland, to an
expanded role as managing
director, content, with the
additional responsibility for
its entertainment, movies
and news channels in the
UK and Ireland. He will
combine the new role with
his existing responsibilities
at Sky Deutschland,
splitting his time between
London and Munich.
Davey is a well-known and
highly experienced executive
in the international pay-TV
and senior roles in Europe,
Asia and the US. Prior to
joining Sky Deutschland, he
also held a senior role at Sky
Italia, where he was
responsible for launching its
terrestrial TV network, cielo.
8 EUROMEDIA
i.e., the integration of these videostreaming platforms,” he advised.
The survey notes that broadband is
by far the largest revenue and EBITDA
growth driver for the industry. The
marketed bandwidth of European cable
operators was on average 48Mbit/s in
H1 2013. By 2016,
cable players expect
this to increase to
over 150Mbit/s.
“Cable players will
continue to utilise
their network
advantages. Standard
products with over
150Mbit/s download
speed and top
products with much
higher throughput
represent a
challenge to all
competing
infrastructures,”
Hamel noted.
In terms of new customer segments,
the cable industry focuses especially on
business clients. B2B is forecast to be
the second largest growth driver (after
broadband) to 2016
Hamel sees great potential but also
corresponding challenges: “There is no
reason to assume that cable operators
should not be able to replicate their B2C
success with SME customers.”
Earlier in his career, Davey
played a key role in the first
years of Sky in the
UK as managing
director of the
company during
the early 1990s as
it pioneered the
introduction of
pay-TV, later he
ran Star TV in
Asia.
Jeremy
Darroch, Sky’s
group chief executive, said
that Davey was one of the
most capable executives in
pay-TV. “I am delighted to
welcome him back to Sky in
the UK. As we become a
more international business,
Gary’s broad experience
across many markets gives
him a unique perspective
that he can now apply to the
continued growth of our
content business in the UK
and Ireland as well as
Germany and Austria.”
Davey said he had always
been very proud of having
played a part in the launch of
Sky in the UK: “Even more so
to watch it grow and now
become Europe’s leading
entertainment company. This
is a brand new beginning
and I am looking forward to
working with the exceptional
team in the UK as we take
our channels to new
heights.”