Kabel Deutschland has reported further recovery of its premium TV business with 86,000 RGU net adds in the third quarter.
The quarter ended on Decemner 31, 2013 and resulted in a total of 2.2 million Pay TV and PVR RGUs.
The operator also reported strong internet and the phone momentum continued, with 88,000 net adds quarter on quarter.
The recovery of the premium TV business continued in Q3 with 86,000 RGU net adds quarter on quarter after a weaker H1: the company added 24,000 RGUs in Q1 and 55,000 RGUs in Q2; both quarters were impacted by the un-encryption of private SD channels and extraordinary churn of Kabel BW Pay TV wholesale customers.
In total, premium TV RGUs grew to 2,235,000 end of December 2013, plus 265,000 or 13.5% year on year. HD Private increased to 1,610,000 activated smart cards (versus 1,068,000 one year earlier).
The total blended TV ARPU per subscriber improved to €10.83 in the third quarter, up by €0.40 or 3.8% from €10.43 in the previous year.
Kabel Deutschland’s direct subscriber base expanded to 7.6 million (plus 24,000 net adds year on year) out of a total of 8.4 million unique subscribers. The overall RGU base increased by 641,000 or 4.5% from the previous year and totaled 14.8 million end of December 2013.
Due to the rising penetration of new services, the RGU per subscriber ratio climbed to 1.76 (1.66 one year ago) and the total blended ARPU per subscriber increased to €17.30, up by €1.25 or 7.8% year on year.
