Deutsche Telekom makes TV gains, extends CEO’s contract

Deutsche Telekom grew its TV customer base by 9.0% in Germany and 4.8% in the rest of Europe during 2017 and announced that it has renewed CEO Tim Höttges’ contract.

In its home market, Deutsche Telekom’s IPTV and satellite TV subscriber base climbed to 3.14 million at the end of 2017 – an increase of 260,000 from 2.88 million a year earlier.

In the rest of Europe its IPTV, satellite and cable TV base grew to 4.24 million – up 195,000 from 4.05 million a year earlier. The majority of these additions were at Deutsche Telekom’s national companies in Hungary, Slovakia and Greece.

In Germany, the company said that it is focusing on marketing integrated offers and on TV and fiber-optic lines, due to the “persistently challenging development” in the fixed-network market, primarily owing to aggressive pricing offers of competitors.

“Our offer also includes attractive TV content across all screens – on any device. In Germany, for example, with Entertain TV, we aggregate linear television and the best streaming offers of our partners like Netflix or Maxdome on one platform,” said Deutsche Telekom in its annual report.

“What’s more, since 2017, the offer has included exclusive TV series such as The Handmaid’s Tale, Valkyrien, and Cardinal, and our unique Telekom Sport offering.”

The company said that it plans to continue to expand its content portfolio in the coming years – for instance through its international partnership with Netflix. It also said it plans to implement new operating concepts like voice control through smart speakers.

Deutsche Telekom’s results came after the company’s board extended CEO Tim Höttges’ contract for another five years.

Deutsche Telekom’s board chairman, Ulrich Lehner, said: “Tim Höttges has done a tremendous job since he has taken office in 2014. He has led Deutsche Telekom back to a growth path and to the position of leading European Telco. I am delighted to continue our working relationship.”

For full year 2017, Deutsche Telekom’s revenue climbed 2.5% to €74.9 billion, reported adjusted EBITDA grew by 3.8% to €22.2 billion and net profit was up by 29.4% to €3.5 billion.

Separately, T-Mobile US announced the acquisition of online TV provider Layer3 TV in November, which closed on January 22, 2018.