The global Pay TV market continues to grow in the first two quarters of 2013, adding 23 million new subscribers for a 3% increase. In particular, telco TV and satellite TV growth was robust while cable and terrestrial Pay TV services experienced virtually flat growth.

“ABI Research expects that worldwide Pay TV subscribers will reach 895 million by the end of 2013, to generate service revenue of USD 245 billion,” comments Jake Saunders, VP and practice director of core forecasting.

The physical divide for broadband internet access is being addressed but it's the social divide that really needs attention now.  Point Topic, along with representatives from Ofcom, the ONS, BT, Shelter, the Tinder Foundation and the Oxford Internet Institute amongst others attended the 7th Social Digital Research Symposium in London yesterday.

Covering 97 countries, the number of homes paying for IPTV will rocket to 167  million by end-2018, up from 69 million at end-2012 and from only 13 million at end- 2008, according to a new report from Digital TV Research.

Simon Murray, author of the Global IPTV Forecasts report, said: “This means that  IPTV penetration will exceed 10% of TV households by 2018, more than double the  2012 figure and up from only 1% in 2008. IPTV revenues [from subscriptions and  on-demand] will grow to $21.3 billion by 2018, up from US$ 12.0 billion in 2012 and  US$ 2.8 billion in 2008.”

At the end of 2Q-2013, the total subscriptions in Africa reached 863 million—a strong growth of 9.3% year-on-year (YoY), which is substantially more robust than other regions around the world. Africa’s growth trajectory will continue up to 2018, with a CAGR of 6.6%, to reach 1.25 billion. “What’s more, due to the lower comparative 3G penetration of 13.8% in Africa at the end of 2013, ABI Research forecasts that Africa 3G subscriptions will grow rapidly from 114 million in 2013 to 210 million by 2015,” comments Marina Lu, research associate at ABI Research.

NSR’s Global Assessment of Satellite Supply & Demand, 10th Edition report, released today, projects commercial satellite operator revenues from transponder and bandwidth leasing will top US$18.8 billion in the coming ten years, up from US$11.2 billion in 2012. This strong growth comes from a mix of C, Ku and widebeam Ka-band transponder leasing gains in such diverse markets as DTH, video distribution and VSAT networking, generating some US$4.5 billion in new revenues by 2022.

According to the latest findings published in the NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly Global TV Shipment and Forecast Report, Q2‘13 overall worldwide TV shipments were down 3% Y/Y, though LCD TV shipments managed to grow 4% Y/Y. The overall trend in total shipments, while still negative, is showing some improvement from last year, with LCD TV shipments posting slight growth over the past two quarters. China continues to be a catalyst for global LCD TV shipment growth, though Q2’13 growth was likely the result of industry incentives.

Subscriptions to pay-TV in Canada fell by 10,810 in the second quarter of the year, with gains in the Internet Protocol television (IPTV) segment failing to offset losses in both cable and satellite, according to a new TV Intelligence report from information and analytics provider IHS.

According to the NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly Smart TV Usage Study, consumers in emerging markets are twice as likely as those in mature markets to purchase an internet-enabled smart TV in the coming 12 months. When asked about their planned TV purchases, 71% of consumers in Brazil, China, and other emerging markets reported they were likely to purchase a smart TV in the next 12 months, compared to just 37% of TV consumers in France, the UK, and other mature markets.

Euroconsult announced the latest findings of the Mobile Satellite Service industry in the 4th edition of their research report, "Mobile Satellite Communications Markets Survey: Prospects to 2022." According to the report, the active MSS terminal base grew at a CAGR of 10% over the past five years with over 2.9 million active MSS terminals deployed on a global basis in 2012. Revenues generated by the six active MSS operators stood at around $1.5 billion in 2012.

The smart set-top box and dongle market is expected to pass 18 million units in 2013--higher than originally forecasted due to the arrival of Google’s Chromecast device. Overall the market is expected to grow with a 10.8% CAGR (2013 to 2018) with less saturated and developing (from connected and OTT perspective) markets like Asia-Pacific and Latin America helping drive this growth.