22 May 2012
Today, the National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM) has published the Statistical data report on the services of linear audiovisual media programmes provided to end-users in 2011. The report shows a minor increase of the total number of subscribers to audiovisual programme retransmission services and a double number – compared to 2010 – of subscribers to digital cable services, to the detriment of the analogue cable services. 82.6% of the total households in Romania receive audiovisual services by means of the 460 providers of TV programme retransmission services.
The total number of audiovisual programme retransmission subscribers amounted to 5.85 million at end-2011, up by 2% as compared to end-2010. In 2011, the number of subscribers to services provided on cable networks grew by 7%, while the number of subscribers to services supplied on satellite (DTH) networks fell by 5%; nonetheless, the number of DTH subscribers grew again in the second semester, by +2%. The cable networks hold 61% of the total number of subscribers to audiovisual programme retransmission services registered at the end of 2011 (up by 3 percentage points as compared to 2010), whereas 38.5% of the total subscribers chose the satellite networks and 0.5% the IPTV technology.
The penetration rate of the audiovisual programme retransmission services per household reached 82.6%. This penetration rate was computed as the ratio between the total number of subscribers and the number of households in Romania, updated in accordance with the preliminary results of the census conducted in 2011. In the urban area, the penetration rate reached 91.1%, while in the rural area it reached 72.2%. Furthermore, 78% of the total subscribers in the urban area were receiving services on cable networks and 21% on satellite (DTH) networks, whereas the DTH reception of audiovisual services in the rural area was predominant, with 66%.
The cable networks registered increases in terms of both total number of subscribers, which grew by 7% in 2011, and number of subscribers to audiovisual programme retransmission services received in digital format, which rose by 129% as compared to 2010 and by 24% as compared to mid-2011, respectively. The share of the number of subscribers to services provided on digital cable networks reached 25% within the total number of subscribers to services supplied on cable networks, as more and more cable subscribers chose digital services. The number of cable subscribers in the urban area grew by 3.5% by mid-2011, whereas the number of subscriptions in the rural area fell a little, by 0.2%. The providers reported 2.79 million cable subscribers in the urban area and 0.78 million cable subscribers in the rural area.
The audiovisual programme retransmission services provided over the IP technology (IPTV) decreased by 21% in the first semester of 2011, registering about 30 thousand total subscribers at end-2011.
The statistical data report was elaborated based on the data reported by theproviders of audiovisual programme retransmission services, which carried out commercial activities between 1 July and 31 December 2011, and is available for consultationhere.