Teracom’s pay-TV operations added just 1,000 subscribers over the last 12 months. While subscriber numbers for Boxer in the Swedish domestic market remain stable, buoyed by the recent addition of HD channels, Boxer Denmark and Finland’s PlusTV continue to need investment.
“The TV medium is becoming stronger in the overall media market and competition between television distributors is increasing,” said Teracom CEO Crister Fritzson. “For the Teracom Group this means that we are focussing on investing in our competitiveness while creating growth and a stronger base by setting up operations in Denmark and Finland”.
Revenues for the first nine months of the year increased to SEK2,812m (€303.25m) from SEK 2,444m in 2009, but pre-tax profits fell from SEK 420m to SEK 186m.
As of September 30, 2010 there were 948,000 subscribers to the combined DTT pay platforms, up on 2009, but still 2,000 down on the quarter. Plus TV now also faces competition from the TDF-backed TDF Entertainment, but Teracom management have managed to bring down churn, and increase the overall number of subscribers. In Denmark, revenues have increased following greater than anticipated interest in additional packages.
Fritzson said the goal of the Swedish HD launch was to upsell existing customers to the new HD package while also bringing in new subscribers.
