Viasat’s pay-TV operations in the Baltic Republics and Ukraine are continuing to perform well despite the ongoing economic crisis in both markets.
Results published by MTG show that its premium DTH subscriber total in the two markets grew by 3,000 quarter-on-quarter in Q3 to reach 207,000, while the basic DTH subscriber total rose by 3,000 to 22,000.
On the other hand, Viasat’s mini pay-TV subscriber total in the wider CEE region fell by 562,000 in Q3 to 39.620 million due to the loss of contracts with two major cable operators.
Net sales in Viasat’s emerging market portfolio amounted to SEK211 million (€20.3 million) in Q3 2009, or 26.3% more than in the corresponding period in 2009.
Its operating income meanwhile almost doubled from SEK17 million to SEK32 million over the same period.
In the Nordic market another 24,000 premium subscribers were added to the Viasat subscriber base, evenly split between DTH and cable networks, and bringing the total to 802,000. Basic DTH subscribers slipped by 7,000 to 48,000 in a market where digital switchover is close to completion. The personal video recorder ViasatPlus crept up by 6,000 to 133,000 and now represents 20% of the DTH premium base of 675,000.
