Cord cutting to continue in Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe is set to lose nearly 5 million pay TV subscribers between 2020 and 2026.

According to Digital TV Research, cord cutting in the region will see a total of 78.18 million pay TV subscribers by 2026. 

The report notes that while overall pay TV penetration will drop from 66% to 63% in the region, digital pay TV penetration will climb from 56% to 62%. The number of digital pay TV subscribers is predicted to increase by nearly 6 million between 2020 and 2026 to 76 million.

The most significant amount of growth will be seen in digital cable TV and pay IPTV, which will increase to 24.83 million and 22.96 million respectively. Pay satellite TV will drop from 29.76 million to 27.39 million. 

Analogue cable TV will drastically decline from 12.6 million to 2 million by 2026, while FTA DTT will see its consumer base entirely disappear. 

Simon Murray, Principal Analyst at Digital TV Research, said: “Most of the remaining analog cable TV subscribers are paying very little to receive very little. These homes are reluctant or unable to upgrade to more expensive digital pay TV.”