According to the latest figures reported by the Chilean Subsecretaria de Telecomunicaciones (Subtel), the entity in charge of regulating the telecommunications market in the country, the pay TV industry continues to rise and ended Q1 2021 with a total of 3,304 million subscribers. This way, the market manages to keep a positive balance in terms of subscriber growth, a trend that has been repeated since the end of Q3 2020.

The reported figure shows an increase of 91 thousand subscribers (2.8%) in relation to the 3,213 million reported at the end of Q1 2020, while, at the end of Q4 2020, the sector featured a total of 3.27 million,increasing its base by 34 thousand new clients during the first three months of 2021. In addition, at the end of March this year, the penetration of households with access to pay TV reached 58.5%.

Apart from that, Subtel reported that, of the 3,304 million subscribers with whom pay TV ended Q1 2021, 1,948 million belong to the cable and IPTV technologies, and 1,356 million to DTH. With these figures, the sector is close to the 3,358 million subscribers reported at the end of Q2 2018, the highest number of pay TV subscribers that took place in the country in recent years.

‘The increase in pay TV subscribers in previous years has benefited most of the companies, due to an increase in the use and demand of this service nationwide. However, this market has stagnated, which is shown in a growth of 2.8% in the last 12 months’,  theyreported from Subtel.

As of March 31st, 2021, VTR (Liberty Latin America) still has the largest pay TV market share, with 32.2%. They are followed by DirecTV (AT&T; 22.4%); Movistar (Telefonica) with 15.6%; Claro (America Movil; 11.2%); and other operators with 18.6%. Likewise, at the end of May, Wom joined the pay TV market in Chile with the launch of Wom TV, now available in the country’s Metropolitan Region, although, as confirmed by Rodrigo Baudrand, the company’s Home Services Manager, to Nextv News Latin America, the offer will be launched throughout the country before the end of the year.