Russia Market Briefing 2014 | Page 16

russia_russia 16/01/2014 09:43 Page 9

MARKET FOCUS
Pay-TV household penetration was 58% at
end-June, with iKS-Consulting forecasting that
it will reach 68% in 2018.
iKS-Consulting suggests that Cable TV
remains the most popular technology,
accounting for more than half of all subscribers.
However, despite the ongoing construction of
networks, the share of cable TV is gradually
reducing, as satellite TV and IPTV out-grow the
market. iKS-Consulting estimates that in 2018
the share of satellite TV will reach 39% and the
share of IPTV will be 12%, with cable TV
making up the remaining 49%.
According to Sergey Stavropoltsev,
commercial director, Tricolor TV, the Russian
pay-TV market will keep growing for another
three or four years. He told Access Intelligence’s
Mark Holmes that there were several significant

drivers for such growth. “The public
digitalisation programme has artificially created
a new competitive field. It has changed the rules
of the game. The first multiplex became a mustcarry for all cable and satellite operators.
Tricolor TV provided TV channels of the first
multiplex (federal channels) to its subscribers
free of charge in previous years, that’s why such
a change of rules of the game has not influenced
us at all, but small cable operators were
compelled to restructure their operations.
Furthermore, many cable operators started with
analogue television, and now digitalization
takes place throughout the world. The market
currently changes over from traditional cable
television, which dominated the market for a
long time to more advanced formats like
satellite television and IPTV.”

Tricolor TV plans
expansion
Tricolor TV says it will expand
services via new additional
capacity aboard the ABS-2
satellite, as and when it comes
on stream later in 2014. ABS-2 is
currently being built by Space
Systems/Loral, and when
launched later in 2014, will
provide extra capacity from 75
degrees East, covering the whole
of Russia up to the Arctic Circle.
Tricolor is already transmitting
on a satellite at 56 degrees East
(Bonum-1) and 36 degrees East
(Eutelsat W4).

Eastern Europe Pay-TV Market Forecast, Selected Markets
Market
Name
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
Russia
Belarus
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
Russia
Belarus
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
Russia
Belarus
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
Russia
Belarus

Metric

2013

2018

TV Households (actual)
TV Households (actual)
TV Households (actual)
TV Households (actual)
TV Households (actual)
Multichannel Subscribers (actual)
Multichannel Subscribers (actual)
Multichannel Subscribers (actual)
Multichannel Subscribers (actual)
Multichannel Subscribers (actual)
Multichannel Revenue ($000)
Multichannel Revenue ($000)
Multichannel Revenue ($000)
Multichannel Revenue ($000)
Multichannel Revenue ($000)
Digital TV Connections (actual)
Digital TV Connections (actual)
Digital TV Connections (actual)
Digital TV Connections (actual)
Digital TV Connections (actual)

584,086
1,061,756
1,231,469
50,474,239
3,759,689
482,946
852,281
736,600
26,470,141
2,430,458
109,400
203,037
82,477
2,772,658
229,395
545,569
1,101,915
1,063,576
27,672,067
1,360,580

581,031
1,057,779
1,226,856
50,853,299
3,970,315
521,348
971,622
830,497
32,951,313
2,662,031
143,348
292,514
142,621
5,486,393
283,156
576,261
1,196,013
1,394,729
50,842,263
2,346,205

CAGR (%)
2013-2018
-0.1%
-0.1%
-0.1%
0.1%
1.1%
1.5%
2.7%
2.4%
4.5%
1.8%
5.6%
7.6%
11.6%
14.6%
4.3%
1.1%
1.7%
5.6%
12.9%
11.5%

Tricolor currently uses 22
transponders in total: 16 for
broadcasting in the European
part of Russia, and six for
broadcasting in Siberia. The
operator is expecting huge
demands for satellite capacity
over the next few years.
“We have already signed the
agreement to lease satellite

© 2014 SNL Kagan, a division of SNL Financial LC, estimates. All rights reserved.

Former CIS profiles

Belarus
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
Russia
Ukraine

TV
households
(000)
2012
2018
3,501
3,564
554
568
867
888
1,351
1,383
51,154
52,394
17,439
17,861

Source: Digital TV Research

16 RUSSIA Briefing

Digital TV
households
(000)
2012
2018
1,253
3,030
554
568
650
888
765
1,356
22,275
50,298
6,198
17,861

Pay TV
households
(000)
2012
2018
2,421
2,748
460
492
674
745
709
826
23,554
32,327
3,865
5,251

Pay TV
revenues
$m
2012
2018
175
226
56
68
83
93
91
116
1,254
2,217
356
651

capacity on the Express AT1 and
Express AT2 satellites,” Sergey
Stavropoltsev, Commercial
Director, Tricolor TV told Via

Satellite. “We will gain capacity in
Siberia that is four times the level
of available capacity now. We
shall also begin to work in the
Far East, where Tricolor TV is
currently not present. In my
opinion, we will have three times
more satellite capacity at the end
of 2017 than what we have now,
but it may still not be enough.”