Dataxis said that TV Everywhere (TVE) services are now available to 72% of Pay TV subscribers in Europe after starting in 2011. These services allow customers to also watch traditional TV offers (DTH, cable, IPTV, terrestrial) on other screens: PC, smartphones and tablets. In Europe, Pay TVE had become must as it is available to 130m Pay TV customers end of 2016 according to Dataxis. This translate into a penetration of 72% of all European pay TV subscribers.
The first Pay TVE services were launched in 2010/2011. At that time, they were often available only in-house and frequently charged by operators. Today, TVE services are considered as a retention tool by Pay TV operators. They are available outside home and in 95% of cases, they are available free of charge as part of basic TV packages. Mostly small and medium operators have yet to create an offer for their customers.
Dataxis believes that the next step for Pay TV operators is to better integrate OTT in their global strategies and launch new pure OTT offers. Initially, TVEs were developed in parallel with legacy offers. As next generation, fixed broadband (FTTH, VDSL, Fiber cable) and 4G becomes more prevalent in European markets, it is only a question of time before pay TV operators unify their TV & Video offers under OTT technologies, the firm said.
Analyst Comment
It still annoys me that Sky won’t allow me to access my Sky Go account when I’m outside the UK. It’s not that the firm simply doesn’t like it, it has worked to ensure that most VPN services are defeated (but not all, so email me at [email protected] if you’d like to know one that works!). This kind of limitiation has been a factor in me signing up for a Netflix account, not that I seem to have time to watch when I’m away from home!
