Pay-TV subscriptions in former European USSR countries reached 53.2m in the first quarter of 2018, a 3% YoY growth, according to Dataxis research.
In line with global trends, cable TV is declining in all countries of the region (-2% YoY).
However, cable remains the most common way of accessing pay-TV content with 44% of connections at the beginning of 2018. The share of cable TV is higher in Ukraine, Armenia, Lithuania and Moldova. For some smaller size operators in these countries, more than half of the subscriber base is still using analogue signals.
According to industry players, 100% migration of subscribers to digital is not going to happen for two to three years.
The strongest growth is coming from IPTV (+19%), with successful operators such as Rostelecom in Russia, OLL TV in Ukraine and Beltelecom in Belarus. The penetration of this technology among pay-TV subscribers is also particularly strong in Georgia, where it is driven by broadband expansion.
The former European USSR countries are Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, and Armenia.