Ziggo takes pay TV hit

Dutch cable operator Ziggo reported a 4.3% year-on-year decline in pay TV revenue in the first quarter of 2014 after a 16,000 quarterly dip in subscribers. 

For the full year, Ziggo said that its number of digital pay TV subscribers is down by 58,000, due to the “difficult macro-environment, the switch from subscription-based to on-demand-based video consumption and increased competition from over-the-top premium TV providers.”

In the quarter ending March 31, Ziggo said that its total TV customers numbered 2.645 million, down from 2.661 million for the three months ending December 31.

Digital pay TV subscribers came to 837,000, down quarter-over-quarter from 853,000.

Year-on-year, total TV customers and digital pay TV subscribers were down 3.1% and 6.5% respectively.

Revenue from digital pay TV (including VoD) was €41.3 million in the quarter, down from €43.1 million in Q1 2013.

Ziggo said this was in spite of an increase in the number of VoD transactions by 5% in the same period and an increase in ARPU for digital pay TV by 2.6%, from €15.84 in Q1 2013 to €16.25 in Q1 2014.

Across the whole business, Ziggo reported Q1 revenue of €394.2 million, up 1.7% year-on-year. Adjusted EBITDA was €213.1 million, down 4.3% year-on-year.

“Clearly, the recommended offer on Ziggo from Liberty Global, which was announced on January 27, was the most important event for the company during the first quarter. We believe that the combination of the two Dutch cable companies offers a great opportunity for all stakeholders as it allows us to jointly invest and provide even better services to our customers,” said Ziggo CEO Rene Obermann.