The annual telecommunications report prepared by the Communications Services Regulatory Unit (Ursec) reported a situation well known by subscriber television companies. At the end of the year, the companies lost 33,163 customers and evidenced a trend that has been going on since 2016.
The president of the Uruguayan Television Chamber for Subscribers (CUTA), Washington Melosaid to The Observer that the loss of clients occurs by more than one factor and also highlighted some virtues. “A lot of people like to watch cable, because of the simplicity of operating it, in live sporting events you don’t have delay. The problem is the business model,” she indicated.
Something that has changed in recent years and that operators mark as a factor of poor business results was the position taken by content providers. “Those who provide us also offer that content directly from the service of streaming. They are suppliers and at the same time competitors of the cables”, expressed Melo.
One of the examples he mentioned was the company Disneyowner of various content segments, including children, movies, series, varieties and live sports. The director of CUTA reported that the cables must buy the entire package that Disney offers, they cannot do it in parts. “Theoretically you are buying everything, but they take content for their own platform. They abuse that dominant position they have“, said.
The result of this, according to his vision, is that the product becomes more expensive, the offer is no longer attractive and also profitable. Another example that he marked was the broadcast of races of Formula 1: ESPN (of Disney) had taken car racing off the wires. But he had to offer it again at the request of Formula 1, which preferred the number of people who watched them through the cables and not the number that did so through the platform.
Melo explained that one of the alternatives for the business to improve is that cable companies can offer services over the Internet. After several twists and turns, which included judicial proceedings, the Media law (19.307) enables cable operators to do so.
“We are going to have one more tool so that in some way what we lose due to the obsolete cable business can be recovered and maintain the balance of the companies that provide Internet services,” he explained. The CUTA as a union works together with the Ursec to enable the licenses. “The expectation is that this year they can begin to provide this service and cut the bleeding of the loss of subscribers,” he explained.
piracy
Another aspect that weighs on the loss of customers is piracy. In recent years, the offer on websites of the modality has grown IPTV. In some cases, more than 2,000 channels are available for a few dollars in exchange. But clearly the service is illegal. Melo reported that cable companies have lost 22% of their subscriber base in the last four years. In turn, the estimate is that 30% of the total market consumes pirated services.
internet television
Melo highlighted the elaboration of a decree at the end of last year to combat piracy in television for subscribers. The text allows sanctioning and preventive measures to be adopted in cases of broadcasting services or audiovisual signals through the Internet or similar networks, for commercial purposes, not legitimized for such purposes.
The decree enables the holders of television services for subscribers to report to the Ursec the broadcasting of television signals over the Internet. They may also request temporary electronic blocking to prevent access from Uruguay to the IP addresses, internet domains and URLs corresponding.
“The decree makes it possible to more efficiently combat this type of pirate services. We have no way of dealing with that unfair competition. It’s all stolen and then they sell it at the price they want,” said the president of CUTA.
Cable operators closed the year with 573,746 customers. The sector has a workforce of 5,000 jobs throughout the country. The companies understand that with the fight against piracy, the possibility of offering services through the Internet and having all the products that the content owners manage, they will recover part of what they have lost.
