Argentina. This statement was made by Carlos Blanco, Research Manager Latin America, in a press conference held within the framework of NexTV Summit Southamerica 2015.
"Brazil, Venezuela and, to a lesser degree, Chile are some of the countries that have grown the most in South America and have the potential to evolve every year," added the executive, while stressing that the current legislation in the Argentine sector is a factor of discouragement for investment, since "the cable industry has fallen for the third consecutive year."
"Beyond what has been said, the case of Argentina stands out for the lack of regulation on piracy, which annually promotes almost ten percent penetration," Blanco acknowledged. On the other hand, he affirmed that in other countries, such as Venezuela, the state is the main actor that promotes competition and, therefore, development.
The executive reported that Latin America has a very high pay-TV digitization projection between now and 2018, which would reach 91 percent. "The greatest growth has occurred and will occur in TDH, which have been driven by telcos as a video entry platform," he added.
"Mexico is the most important country in terms of OTT S-VOD paid account income. In this case, Argentina has a good overall positioning, since it is the third market, with almost 10 percent, behind Brazil and Mexico," Blanco said.
In another order, the executive highlighted the importance of technological evolution at the regional level, which has led to a current situation, and especially future, in which "analog cable TV will end up being a marginal expression in Latin America." "In Argentina, however, Netflix, for example, the entry and penetration in the market were not easy at all. Telecom and Telefónica, among others, have presented intelligent strategies to give battle," he added.
Finally, Blanco made a brief general analysis of the economic situation at the regional level within the market and highlighted that, while in 2014 pay-TV and OTT revenues were around 22 billion dollars, it is expected that by 2018 they will exceed 30 billion.
