Abstract
Overview
This report covers developments in the Convergence, Pay TV and Digital Media
Market of Latin America and the Caribbean. The countries covered in this report
include: Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica,
Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti,
Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico,
Uruguay, Venezuela, and the small Caribbean island nations.
Key highlights:
Argentina
In terms of pay TV penetration, Argentina is a world leader, with more than
one home out of two being subscribed to pay TV services, but media convergence
suffers from regulatory battles involving the government, pay TV companies,
and telecom operators. According to Argentinean law, a telecom company is not
allowed to offer pay TV, and must ally with a CATV operator if it wants to
offer converged services. Telcos have been urging the government to reform the
Argentine telecoms law to facilitate media convergence. The Cable TV
Operators' Association, on the other hand, has urged the government not to
allow telcos into the pay TV sector - at least not until CATV companies have
completed the digitisation of their networks. It claims that the telecom
incumbents would take over the pay TV market and push CATV companies out of
business.
Brazil
In Brazil, delay in legislating on the matter of convergence has led to much
confusion and conflict, involving pay TV companies, telecom operators, and
regulatory authorities. Incumbent telcos have been forcing the issue by
entering the pay TV market before receiving authorisation to do so. Although
regulatory questions still await resolution, both pay TV and telephone
companies have been active in developing convergence strategies, and several
operators offer triple or quadruple play packages. The market leader is Net
Servicos de Comunicacao, controlled by Mexico' s Telmex; in fact, Net is the
largest multi-service cable TV provider in Latin America, with a bundled
video, broadband, and voice service in 79 Brazilian cities. Brazil was the
second country in Latin America to adopt a digital TV standard; digital
terrestrial TV was launched in December 2007, but is experiencing slow uptake.
Mexico
Mexico' s main cable TV providers, Megacable, Cablemas, and Cablevision, are
active in the triple play market, with offerings of bundled cable TV,
broadband, and telephony; as a result, their broadband subscriber base and in
particular their VoIP subscriber numbers witnessed healthy growth during 2007
and 2008. Telmex has claimed to have lost over 50% of the voice market in
areas where cable companies offer triple play services. In 2007, it requested
to have its own licence modified to include pay TV services, but in late 2008,
it entered into an agreement with the newly constituted Dish Mexico to
distribute DTH satellite TV services. Mexico was the first country in Latin
America to launch digital terrestrial TV; by early 2009 there were an
estimated 38 digital channels.
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