European pay TV top five to reshuffle, but UPC stays on top

UPC Broadband will remain the leading European pay TV operator in 2017, with Russia’s Tricolor taking the number two spot from BSkyB, according to a report from Digital TV Research.

Surveying 95 operators across 25 countries, Digital TV Research’s European Pay TV Operator Forecasts report predicts that pay TV subscribers will grow to 140.9 million by 2017, up from 96.2 million in 2007.

UPC will see some subscriber losses over the period, but will remain the leader with 14.5 million subscribers, down from 15 million in 2011. Tricolor will take number two spot with 11.7 million subscribers, up from 6.9 million in 2011. BSkyB will drop to number three with 11.5 million, up from 10.5 million, while Kabel Deutschland will drop to number four with eight million subscribers, down from 8.4 million in 2011, according to Digital TV Research. Russia’s Rostelecom will remain in fifth place, with 5.6 million subscribers in 2017, down from 5.8 million in 2011, according to the report.

Simon Murray, principal analyst at Digital TV Research, said: “Despite losing TV subscribers, UPC/Liberty Global will remain Europe’s largest pay TV operation by some distance. Germany’s Unitymedia will lead the way for Liberty Global.”