According to statistics from the industry, as of the end of the second quarter, China’s cable digital TV pay users have fallen to 151.93 million, for the first time falling below the 160 million mark. According to industry insiders, IPTV and OTT services have greatly impacted the development of cable digital TV users. It is understood that in the same period last year, China's cable digital TV subscribers were 1.6706 billion. At the end of 2015, cable digital TV subscribers were 175.65 million.
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However, in sharp contrast with the rapid decline of paying digital TV subscribers, China’s IPTV subscribers are rapidly increasing. As of the end of May this year, the total number of IPTV subscribers exceeded 100 million; as of the end of June, the total number of IPTV subscribers in China was 103 million. From January to June, there was a net increase of nearly 16 million households.
IPTV has great market potential, and the competition among the three major operators in the IPTV field has become increasingly fierce. As early as the beginning of 2016, both China Telecom and China Mobile launched a tens of thousands of set-top box unified collections at the group level. In the first time of the China Telecom Group's first collective procurement, the number of collective procurements at the time of tendering was approximately 11.13 million units, but the final announced number of coal mining units was 21.06 million units, which was a full double increase, which also validated the market for IPTV. Demand is growing.
In 2017, China Unicom proposed to position its video service as a strategic basic business. The IPTV broadband penetration rate will increase to 52% in the next three years. China Telecom proposes a "steadfast IPTV+broadband strategy," and every broadband user will be developed. Become an IPTV user; China Mobile also said that it will fully develop OTT and IPTV, and its goal is to plan to develop 50 million users in 2017.
The rapid development of IPTV has brought great pressure on cable TV. In the fourth quarter of last year, China’s cable TV subscribers decreased by 2.15 million compared to the previous quarter, showing negative growth for the first time; and the total number of IPTV subscribers reached 86.79 million, an increase of 40.84 million over 2015, an increase of 89%. In 2016, domestic operators’ IPTV services developed rapidly.
It is worth noting that IPTV has been developing for 12 years. In fact, if the number of IPTV subscribers of China Telecom and China Unicom, together with the number of China Mobile’s more than 20 million OTT TV subscribers, the total number of TV subscribers of the three operators has already reached RMB 100 million in 2016, among which, Tianyi HD has exceeded 65 million subscribers. Become the world's largest IPTV operator. It took nearly 45 years for CATV to accumulate 260 million subscribers. At present, about 210 million subscribers have already achieved digitalization. Among them, 150 million billing lists have been sent to digital cable TV subscribers. They cannot be time-shifted, look back, and order-on-demand. The number of high-definition interactive digital cable television users that can compete with IPTV is only 67.375 million.
"The development momentum of IPTV is very strong. In 2017, as long as the current development speed is maintained, the scale of IPTV users in some areas will gradually surpass cable TV and widen the gap. In general, IPTV will become the next major Nuggets for telecom operators. Point," said industrial watcher Hong Shibin.
Facing the competition from the three major operators, the Department of Broadcasting and Television began to realize the crisis and has been exploring some innovative businesses and new profit models. Last year, Hubei Broadcasting and Television and Jishi Media teamed up with Shenzhen Jiachuang Video Communications to test the business model of “VR+ Broadcasting†for industrialization operation. The digital TV company with the highest market value and best performing performance in broadcasting industry is also investing in the world’s leading companies in the US Silicon Valley. VR Video Broadcasting Technology Company, Video Stitch; Shanghai Oriental Media Group Co., Ltd. (SMG), established by Shanghai Broadcasting and Television, is committed to the transformation of Internet media, introducing the industry’s leading audience testing platform and system, allowing broadcast TV users to participate in the production of programs. It is truly that broadcasting media content production originates from users. According to relevant sources, the system has been used in the production of multiple programs, including the "Extreme Challenge."
In Hong Shibin's view, if China Mobile obtains IPTV licenses, there is no policy limit. For the Broadcasting and Television and Telecom Unicom, it is a great market challenge because China Mobile has sufficient capital investment and can stand the price war.
From a worldwide perspective, the decline of traditional cable television has become a common phenomenon. In the United States, for example, statistics released by Nielsen, a market research company, show that cable TV is in a declining period in the United States. Over 5 million Americans have stopped watching television programs through traditional channels. In South Korea, IPTV service users have reached 14 million. South Korea’s cable subscribers are 14.5 million.
Original title: Cable TV suffers from IPTV