The DTH platform Skylink is finding itself under growing pressure from the incumbent telco Telekom in Slovakia.
Quoting Jaromir Glisnik, a member of the board of M7 Group, Skylink’s owner, Zive reports that the DTH platform currently has fewer than 600,000 subscribers. This is down from 630,000 at the end of last year and 750,000 in September 2014.
Furthermore, some 60% of Skylink’s customers opt for the basic digital package.
Meanwhile, Slovak Telekom has seen its TV (DTH, cable and IPTV) subscriber total steadily increase. It stood at 574,000 as of the end of June – a figure that included both Magio and Digi Slovakia customers – compared to 493,000 at the end of 2015.
Although Skylink increased the price of its basic package at the beginning of this year, Glisnik says it also gained subscribers following TV Markiza’s decision to stop broadcasting terrestrially.
He also says that Skylink is a seasonal platform with a big difference – up to 10% – between the number of subscribers in the middle and end of the year.
Furthermore, Glisnik is of the view that Slovak Telekom has only delayed its own price rises and will sooner or later have to implement them.
Skylink is the leading DTH platform in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
