DirecTV and Comcast remain the global
market leaders for pay-TV revenue and subscribers.
DirecTV enjoys the highest ARPU due to the high take
rate of its value-added services and premium content such as the NFL Sunday
Ticket.
Comcast is the global pay-TV subscriber leader, with
over 22 million subscribers in 2011.
In 2011, the top 20 pay-TV revenue leaders accounted for
50 percent of the revenue, while the top 20 subscriber leaders represented just
30 percent of subscribers.
Cable video still makes up over half of the global
pay-TV market, but revenue growth is decelerating due to a slowdown in new
subscribers, especially in the lucrative North American market, as competition
from satellite and IPTV operators intensifies and as OTT offerings from
Netflix, Hulu, and others siphon away a small, but growing number of
households,” said Jeff Heynen, directing analyst for broadband access and video
at Infonetics Research.