Dutch cable operator Rekam lost 5% of its marketshare after analogue switch-off. As a result, the percentage of homes connected has dropped from 76.2% to 67.1% over the past 15 months.
According to research by the Dutch website Digitalekabeltelevisie.nl, Rekam has lost 4,084 homes since January 1, 2010. ASO took place on October 10, 2010. Rekam serves the city of Gouda and environment and is the only cablenet in the country where customers can choose between two different operators.
Rekam offers a digital bouquet with around 50 channels (not including popular channels such as Discovery Channel, Eurosport or the BBC) for just €6.60 monthy. Viewers can also choose Caiway, which offers a basic digital tier for €16.95 monthly.
In the period from January 1, 2010 the total number of homes passed grew from 54,070 to 55,355 – the number of Rekam subscribers dropped from 25,341 to 21,257 – a loss of 4,084 homes. Caiway remained stable with 15,881 subs on January 1, 2010 and 15,906 on April 1, 2011. So, Caiway was unaffected by the ASO, while Rekam lost over four thousand homes. In terms of marketshare, this translates to a loss of around 5% for Rekam. (NOTE – January 1 , 2010 was used as the benchmark, as no more recent subscribers figures were available for Rekam).
The Rekam service are now has a 67.1% cable penetration. This compares with Ziggo’s 73.6% (down from 77.6% on January 1, 2010) and UPC’s 67.0% (down from 70.6%). competition in the area comes from KPN’s Digitenne and KPN Interactieve TV (IPTV) and satellite provider Canal Digitaal. Just last week, KPN announced it will acquire Caiway.
