Liberty Global reports that its next-generation TV platforms (including Horizon TV, Horizon-Lite, TiVo, Eos (v6) and Yelo TV) have added 253,000 subscribers.
The cabler’s next-gen subscriber base has now reached 6.9 million, representing 39% of its total video base (excluding DTH) in Europe.
Take-up of the new 4K enabled Virgin TV V6 set-top box was robust in Q1 with the company mentioning that “customer satisfaction for this product has been significantly higher than our prior device.”
This new box is expected to be rolled out across additional markets later this year.
The Netflix app on the Horizon platform was rolled out in Germany in March, and it is now available in four countries.
Virgin in UK and Ireland delivered accelerated RGU growth with 158,000 additions in Q1, up 70% YoY. Of particular note was the UK video performance with 46,000 RGU additions, a 53,000 improvement year-over-year. This result was supported by Virgin’s network extension program and the new 4K set-top box.
Germany delivered 52,000 RGU gains in Q1, while implementing price increases for four million subscribers. Sales remained steady during Q1 on the back of a new spring campaign and enhanced product portfolio, highlighting a 400Mbps top speed. Germany’s video result improved by 34,000 RGUs YoY with support from a strong MDU video business
UPC Switzerland/Austria lost 2,000 RGUs in Q1. Aggressive marketing efforts and new bundles from competitors impacted the sequential RGU growth. The Swiss Connect and Connect & Play portfolios will be enriched with an exclusive sports channel called “MySports” that UPC plans to launch in Q3 to further differentiate its product offer.
In Belgium, Telenet lost 21,000 video-only RGUs.
The WiFi Connect Box is installed in 3.7 million homes across Europe, representing 26% penetration of Liberty’s total broadband base. The average broadband speed of internet subscribers was 108 Mbps and on average they consumed 121GB of data per month during Q1, 2017.
