The arrival of streaming platforms has reduced pay television subscriptions in Mexico. During 2023, only 39 percent of households had a subscription to this cable service, being the lowest level since records were recorded in 2015.
According to data from the National Survey on Availability and Use of Information Technologies in Homes (ENDUTIH) from Inegi, in 2016 around 52 percent of homes still had cable service, but this dropped to 42.6 percent. during 2020, the year in which the pandemic occurred and continued to decline until 2023.
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Sergio Ordóñez, researcher at the UNAM Economic Research Institute, attributes this decrease to the growth of streaming services, which offer greater flexibility in prices and a more diversified content offering.
“This phenomenon is known as cord cutting, which actually means the cancellation of pay television subscriptions. This process has been growing since the arrival of platforms like Netflix 10 years ago, and it is practically irreversible “he told El Sol de México.
Ordóñez indicated that, unlike the linear and programmed offering of pay TV, streaming services allow you to choose what to watch, when to watch it and even play it at any time.
In addition, prices are cheaper and the possibility of enjoying content on multiple devices makes streaming a highly competitive option.
“I stopped consuming cable television because I’m not at home much, and well with the applications I can watch my series and movies at my time and wherever I want, plus it’s cheaper,” said Jocelyn Salas, who stopped paying a cable service more than two years ago.
Salas explained that the service of streaming platforms is easy for her because she can pay one month and if the next month she no longer wants the service, she just stops paying without having to close a contract as happens with the TV service. pay.
In Mexico, Televisa, Megacable, Totalplay, Dish-MVS and Stargroup compete in the pay television market, according to data from the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT).
Last week, the IFT authorized Grupo Televisa an agreement with AT&T to buy its entire stake in Sky México and thus take over the entire cable television station. With this acquisition, the companies will represent 58 percent of the restricted television market and 24.7 percent of the fixed internet.
In addition, the new company will be able to offer quadruple play plans, that is, pay television service, fixed telephony and internet, mobile internet and telephony, as well as the streaming service.
Ordóñez considered that these strategies only slow down the decline of pay TV, but will not stop it.
Iván Navarro says that he still maintains his pay television subscription, because many of the sporting events, such as the European soccer leagues, are exclusive to the satellite platform.
“I really like football and I have had Sky for a long time, since it has the majority of games,” he commented. However, he recognizes that the situation is changing and more and more sports leagues are transferring their broadcast rights to streaming platforms.
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Netflix, for example, has invested heavily in live programming, including award shows, sports games and wrestling events. This strategy allows them to compete directly with the traditional pay TV offer.
“Certain content that was previously offered only on pay television is now partnering with these new platforms to offer its offering via streaming. We are seeing it with sports, music, series, taking away a part of the exclusivity that traditional TV offers had” Ordóñez explained.
2024-06-18 11:00:00
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