Romania now has almost 100% pay-TV penetration, according to the regulator ANCOM.
As of the end of 2017 there were 99.6 subscriptions to pay-TV services per 100 households, with cable, which had 5 million subscribers, being the most popular method of reception and continuing to grow. On the other hand, take-up of IPTV services increased by 24% in 2017.
The total number of pay-TV subscriptions increased by 3% to reach 7.54 million at the end of 2017. Penetration in urban areas stood at 103.9 per 100 households, while in rural areas it was 94 per 100 households. The number of cable subscribers grew by 5% to reach 5 million, while the number of DTH subscribers fell by 4% to 2.3 million. As of the end of 2017, there were a total of 120,000 IPTV subscribers.
In urban areas, 82% of pay-TV subscribers opted for cable, followed by 15% for DTH. In rural areas, DTH was favoured by 54% and 45% chose cable.
Digital subscriptions stood at 4.7 million and accounted for 63% of the total. DTH claimed a 49% share of digital subscriptions, followed by 48% for cable and 3% IPTV.