Latin America economic progress & tech innovations driving TV-services growth

Television services in Latin America will grow by double digits over the next five years, outpacing service growth in Asia and other emerging markets.

The report, Television Services: Global Outlook (2nd Edition) reveals the Latin American region will achieve a cumulative annual growth rate of 10% through 2014, compared to less than two percent in Western Europe and North America. Already major players are seeing better-than-expected results. DirecTV recently tripled its quarterly Latin America subscriber additions, due in part to demand for World Cup coverage.

While Asia and Eastern Europe are exciting emerging markets, Latin America will be the next land of opportunity for television services. Growth in the region and technological innovations, as well as changes in TV service regulations, will help fuel the boom in the area’s consumer television services. Over the next few years, we will see advanced services including IPTV, interactive features, and even 3D TV introduced into these markets.

Telefonica and other telcos are anticipating legal changes in Brazil and Argentina that will allow them to offer television services. Colombia, one of the few countries to allow telcos to provide TV services, has seen increases in competition and service variety as a result, including gaming and other interactive TV features. Parks Associates’ analysts report Net and Telefonica in Brazil and Cablevision in Argentina have demonstrated trials of 3DTV.