In the third quarter of this year, cable fell to less than 60% of the Dutch TV subscriptions, while fibre networks became the third-largest technology for receiving TV with almost 10%,
according to Telecompaper’s quarterly report on the Dutch TV market. DSL was in second place with over 14% of the TV market.
The total number of TV connections in the Netherlands was stable at around 7.74 million in Q3, as growth in digital subscriptions offset fewer analogue subscribers. Over 88% of the market now uses digital TV. Cable still accounted for over half (55%) of digital TV subscribers in Q3, despite losing market share to the increasingly available IPTV services over DSL and fibre networks.
Ziggo was the largest TV provider at the end of the third quarter, both in the total TV market and the digital TV market, followed by KPN. Ziggo had over a third of digital TV subscribers, while KPN took 29%, UPC accounted for 16% and CanalDigitaal 10%. Once the acquisition of Ziggo by UPC is completed, the new Ziggo will thus have almost 60% of the digital TV market.
According to Telecompaper, the new Ziggo will face a challenge halting the steady decline in cable’s TV market share as the TV subscription market is expected to have almost zero growth in the period to 2018.
Almost all households already have a TV connection and fewer are taking subscriptions for second TVs, in favour of watching video over tablets, computers and other devices. Telecompaper also estimates that the consumer TV services market generated over EUR 400 million in revenues in the third quarter, slightly lower than in the previous quarter.