CABLE CONGRESS 2011 – LUCERNE. Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is currently where Western Europe was in terms of cable ARPU levels in 1996. However, it is only trailing by a fifth of a service (RGU) and several markets in the region, including Poland and Czech Republic, will reach West European levels in the next four to five years.
Speaking in a session entitled Facts and Figures, Guy Bisson, senior analyst, head of television at IHS Screen Digest, said that 75% of the transactions in the cable industry in Europe in 2010 had taken place in the CEE region.
Aside from Liberty’s acquisition of Aster in Poland, they included a number of deals in Russia, Hungary and Romania.
Commenting on the market in the EU as a whole, he added that cable, with now over 100 million, exceeded both satellite (40 million) and IPTV (just over million) in terms of RGUs.
In Europe, cable is set to overtake satellite in terms of on demand services, and by 2014, 23% of cable broadband (a third in Western Europe) will be DOCSIS 3.0 delivered.
Bisson also said that cable is well positioned for the OTT opportunity and that there are only a handful of markets where OTT can be considered a threat.
