Premiere’s subscriber figures fall back | |
German pay-TV operator Premiere suffered falling subscription figures in the first quarter of 2008.
On March 31 the broadcaster counted 4.24 million customers – 36,204 less than at the end of 2007 when it had 4.28 million subscribers. Of the end-March numbers, 3.62 million homes received Premiere through the broadcaster directly, the rest came from third party platforms such as Arena. In the first quarter, Premiere won 140,447 new direct subscribers, which is 776,585 or 35.3% less than in the first quarter of 2007 when 217,032 new customers were recorded.
Premiere blamed the drop in subscription numbers on piracy problems which it has experienced because of security gaps in its currently-utilised encryption system Nagravision. Manipulated digital receivers have allowed Premiere programmes to be illegally received without subscription, which the company says has hampered its ability to win new subscribers. The broadcaster is therefore currently introducing the as-yet unhacked encryption technology VideoGuard from NDS, in parallel with a new, more secure Nagravision variation.
“The gap in our encryption system influenced revenues and subscriber numbers,” said Premiere CEO Michael Börnicke in Munich. “By the end of Q3 2008, we will have resolved this issue. I am anticipating strong growth once we have implemented a new and secure encryption system.”
Source: Rapid TV News | 
16-05-2008
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