The cable unit of ABS-CBN Corp. expects direct-to-home subscribers to grow four times next year.
“So far we’re doing good. We will break 120,000 [subscribers] this year. For next year, I would like to get half a million [subscribers] as early as possible. It’s a toll order for next year but if we get closer to that, I will be happy,” SkyCable Corp. chief operating officer Antonio Ventosa told reporters.
Sky’s direct-to-home pay TV service nationwide under the brand SkyDirect has over 70,000 subscribers.
“We will expand our distribution next year. We are already nationwide, but we are still trying to build up more distributors. Our biggest market will be areas where we are not present,” Ventosa said.
Aside from Sky Cable, other DTH operators are Cignal TV, Dream Satellite TV and GSat.
The pay TV unit of ABS-CBN earlier tapped SES S.A., a global satellite operator to roll out the DTH television service in the Philippines.
Under a multi-year, multi-transponder agreement, Sky Cable will broadcast DTH satellite TV channels via SES satellites at 108.2 degrees East”•the SES-9 and NSS-11 satellites.
The contracted capacity will enable Sky Cable to effectively roll out a nation-wide DTH satellite TV service across 251 cities and municipalities in the Philippine archipelago, complementing existing cable offerings.
Ventosa said SkyCable was on track to meet its 1 million total subscriber base this year, including SkyDirect, SkyCable and SkyBroadband users.
“This year we will grow broadband by 40 percent. We would like to grow faster than the market. If I’m not mistaken, the market growth rate is 16 to 20 percent. We need to grow faster than that,” he said.
The company had 169,000 broadband subscribers as of end-June, up by 47 percent from last year’s 115,000 broadband subscribers.