Pay-TV penetration in Russia will almost double from 40% this year to 73% at the end of 2016, according to Pavel Basov, the general director of the country’s leading DTH platform Tricolor TV.
Speaking at an event named Intercom 2011 and quoted by AKTR and ComNews, he added that by the end of 2016 cable and IPTV would account for 48% of the pay-TV market and satellite TV 52%.
The latter, in particular is likely to continue growing strongly in the next few years, with the number of homes receiving services set to reach 17.40 million by the end of 2014.
By then, there will also be 9.98 million cable homes, with the total rising to 13 million by 2016.
IPTV, too, will grow strongly, with the number of homes rising from 1.74 million this year to 5.71 million in 2016.
Although Tricolor TV is likely to end the year with 10 million subscribers, other industry sources believe the forecasts for satellite growth over the next few years are an the optimistic side.
