Danish cablenet YouSee has warned that it faces increasing competition from new sources, particularly DTT. The TDC-owned operator said the publicly owned Digi TV was already capable of providing a greater number of channels and improvements in picture and sound quality. The combination of a second Digi TV multiplex and the launch of the Boxer pay-TV package in November 2009 will bring the number of channels to around 35.
“The increased range of channels in the generally accessible terrestrial network will significantly increase competition. In the long term, increased competition in the Danish cable-TV market may also arise from new technology, mainly from future internet-based content providers. Failure by YouSee to meet these challenges may have a materially adverse effect on TDC’s market share of the Danish cable-TV market,” the company said in its second half financial report.
Cablenets in countries including Germany and the Netherlands have already seen significant falls in their basic subs following the launch of DTT services.
In the short term YouSee increased its first half revenues by 14% to DKK1,593m. Ironically the increase came from higher analogue revenues derived from its increased subscriber base. A wider selection of channels in its digital TV packages helped push up ARPU.
TDC’s TV subscribers increased from 1,092,000 in Q2 2007 to 1,124,000 at the end of Q2 2008.
