pay-television subscribers increased 5% in 2015 to 3.52 million – RTP

 According to the National Communications Authority (Anacom), last year the pay TV recorded over 167,000 customers.
 

 “At the end of 2015, the penetration rate of subscription TV service stood at 86.6 subscribers per 100 private households,” more than 4.1 percentage points in 2014.
 

 This increase “was due mainly to offers supported over FTTH / B [fiber] (over 185,100 subscribers). The FTTH / B represented at the end of the year, 23.1% of total subscribers (4 more , 4 percentage points more than in the previous year), and became the second most important form of access, following the cable, “the regulator said in a statement.
 

 Already the cable television service fell 1.4%, but remains the most important form of access (38.3%).
 

 The xDSL technology decreased by 1.2%, which “took place for the first time since this information is collected, and fell to third place among the service support networks (21.3%).”
 

 The service broadcast satellite (DTH), representing 17.4% of the total, rose 1.7%, “the first annual increase since 2011″.
 

 “The increase in deals on package in 2015 determined an increase in the penetration of television offers pay. At the end of the year, about 87.8% of subscribers had integrated service package,” added the Anacom.
 

 Last year, 78.1% of TV service customers pay had access to over 80 channels.
 

 The number of homes with pay-TV service with access to channels’ premium` “remained constant compared to the previous year (18.6%), and even showed an increase of 3.2 points compared to the third quarter of 2015 “.
 

  The share of subscribers who used the television service features pay increased five percentage points over last year, “verifying that about 67% of subscribers used at least one of the available features. Automatic recordings were the most used service by 53% of customers. ”
 

 Revenues from pay-TV service ‘stand-alone` (single service) and packages that include this service amounted to 1,662 million euros.
 

 According to the regulator, the US remains the main provider of the service, with a share of 43.8%, followed by Meo, with 40.7%, Vodafone (10.2%) and Cabovisão (5.1% ).
 

 “Vodafone was the only provider to increase its share of subscribers (+2.7 percentage points) and is a service provider who, in net terms, more subscribers caught in 2015,” he concluded.