Altice has seen a meteoric rise in the past 18 months, transitioning from a private equity firm with a diverse range of smaller stakes to a multinational TV and communications company. It now joins the largest global pay-TV players who control close to 50 per cent of the world's subscription TV revenue, according to a new report by Ampere Analysis.
Until 18 months ago industry veterans John Malone and Rupert Murdoch where the two major pay-TV figureheads, with US giant Comcast also registering a significant portion of global pay TV revenue at 9.3 per cent. But now there are two new players: AT&T with a staggering 18 per cent (following its acquisition of DirecTV), and Altice with just over three per cent pending the completion of its now-financed Cablevision bid.
Half of consumer spending on pay-TV globally now goes into the accounts of just five groups of companies, Ampere Analysis has found. Entities owned directly or indirectly by Malone will have almost ten cent of global pay-TV revenue if the merger of Charter, Time Warner Cable and Bright House is finalised, while Murdoch's stakes in Sky Europe and Foxtel take his global share to seven per cent. Five entities controlling one half of the pay-TV market means challenging negotiations for the supply chain, however, they also face the risk of viewers bypassing intermediaries and accessing content directly, in new ways.
Beyond consolidation, the opportunity for growth in pay-TV revenues is geographical expansion and moving into emerging markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. To date, the top entities have been slow to move outside the west, but Ampere Analysis believes that is changing.
The merger between AT&T and DirecTV created the largest pay-TV group in the US, and also leads the way in global pay-TV revenue (Q2 2015). As well as further US consolidation, and access to new markets in central and South America, the merger of the two companies presents an important opportunity to offer a significant quad-play bundle to US consumers.
Consolidation tactics are also at play in Europe. The most significant activity recently was the creation of Sky Europe, now the largest pay-TV broadcaster in the region, with 27.8 per cent of western European pay-TV revenue. By comparison, rival Liberty Global has 12.5 per cent, despite similar subscriber numbers in western Europe.
It has taken $50 billion and an aggressive 18-month global expansion plan for private equity firm Altice to achieve its significant 3.1 per cent slice of global pay-TV revenues (Q2 2015). That includes the creation of Numericable-SFR in France, the purchase of Portugal's largest telecoms provider Portugal Telecom, and acquisitions of US cable providers Suddenlink and soon Cablevision.
However, Guy Bisson, research director at Ampere Analysis believes that unlike the four largest players, Altice's strategy lacks focus. One option for Altice in the US would be to merge the services of fixed line cable with internet services and wireless communications, as it did in Europe with Numericable-SFR. But to do this Altice would need to purchase a mobile operator to provide quad-play services an offering not as developed in the US as it is Europe. This would not be cheap. Vodafone sold its stake in US-based Verizon Wireless for $130 billion in 2014. Altice's $50 billion shopping bill looks similar to the early days of Liberty Global, which having bought numerous operations only later began to divest non-core assets and create a geographically co-joined footprint, he commented.
After almost three decades of strong growth for pay-TV operators, a cord-cutting' trend is beginning to emerge among consumers. Defection from the traditional pay-TV companies means that net additions of new subscribers have been in decline since 2011, and will reach just over 25.7 million worldwide this year, the lowest figure for over ten years. Slow subscriber growth in these regions will hamper future prospects beyond more consolidation, so it's vital that operators look to new markets.
Analyst Daniel Gadher explained: Beyond AT&T/DirecTV which has a significant presence in a number of countries in central and South America, and Liberty Global exploring the South American market (even more so should its mooted acquisition of Cable and Wireless Communications complete), there is very limited investment among these groups in emerging Asian, African and Middle Eastern markets. These geographies have considerable potential for expansion in the coming years and if the groups we identified are to maintain their dominance, expansion into these high growth markets will be crucial.
Although currently a minor part of its business, Altice has begun to recognise the opportunity in emerging markets. The group now has a small number of assets in central America and the Caribbean, and a stake in African communications group Wananchi (alongside Liberty Global).
www.ampereanalysis.com
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
22/10/2025
Prime Video Inks Deal To Present NFL Black Friday Game Worldwide By SVG Staff
Wednesday, October 22, 2025 - 10:06 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story ...
22/10/2025
NBA Tip-Off: ESPN Goes 1080p HDR End-to-End, Flipping HDR Switch on REMI and REM...
22/10/2025
FloSports Empowers Division II, III Athletic Departments With Turnkey Production...
22/10/2025
Wall Street Video Summit Debuts, Bringing Together 200 Financial Enterprise Vide...
22/10/2025
Dueling Pianos: International Chopin Piano Competition Is as Competitive as a Ba...
22/10/2025
In 1995, a young Colombian artist released an album that would change Latin pop ...
22/10/2025
Over the past few months, a photovoltaic system has been installed on a three-he...
22/10/2025
The Orion spacecraft for NASA's Artemis II mission is stacked on the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket in High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kenn...
22/10/2025
L3Harris' Hybrid SATCOM is resilient by design, offering path diversity that eliminates vulnerabilities by routing data across the best available networks i...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. Organizers of NAB Show New York said they are expecting more than 12,000 registered attendees from about 100 countries along with 260 exhibitor...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON, D.C The organizers of The 2025 NAB Show New York have announced that they are expecting more than 12,000 registered attendees from about 100 countr...
22/10/2025
Masque Sound, a leading theatrical sound reinforcement, installation and design company, supplied an extensive gear package of professional-grade equipment for ...
22/10/2025
Lightware, a global leader in signal management and AV connectivity solutions, is seeing strong market momentum for the UCX-3x3-TPX-RX20, a compact transmitter-...
22/10/2025
MELVILLE, N.Y. Chyron has released PAINT 10.2, the latest update for its telestration platform, adding support for SMPTE ST 2110 IP workflows, expanding brandin...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON Run3TV today said NBCUniversal is joining as an investor in the ATSC 3.0 Framework Authority, which develops the Run3TV NextGen TV application platfo...
22/10/2025
ATLANTA swXtch.io will feature two new networking solutions extending the company's reach across more cloud and on-prem workflows at NAB Show New York, set ...
22/10/2025
The Warner Bros. Discoverys HBO Max streaming services has increased prices for all its streaming tiers effectively immediately for new customers. Existing cust...
22/10/2025
LOS ANGELES OpenDrives has signed a new distribution partnership deal with Versatile Distribution Services (VDS) to strengthen its channel and streamline how it...
22/10/2025
WASHINGTON, D.C The organizers of The 2025 NAB Show New York have announced that they are expecting more than 12,000 registered attendees from about 100 countr...
22/10/2025
Samora Pinderhughes Brings Immersive Sound to Berklee's Signature Series The artist and composer, who's worked with Herbie Hancock, Robert Glasper, Co...
22/10/2025
BMI Day at Berklee Celebrates Composer Fil Eisler and Awards Scholarship to Stud...
22/10/2025
October 22nd, 2025 TRIBECA ANNOUNCES STAR-STUDDED LINEUP OF MEMBERSHIP EVENTS F...
22/10/2025
Rohde & Schwarz and TRUMPF cooperate in drone defense Rohde & Schwarz and TRUMPF partner to deliver a comprehensive drone defense solution combining Rohde & S...
22/10/2025
European Broadcaster Upgrades To Grass Valley's NativeIP LDX 135 Cameras And...
22/10/2025
Everyone Gets a Better Deal on Verizon with New FOX One Perk The $15 FOX One streaming service perk is yet another way Verizon continues to add savings for cu...
22/10/2025
First Look Hidden Assets Series 3
Premieres on 9th November 9:30pm on RT One & RT Player
WATCH HERE Promo Link: Hidden Assets Series 3 | RT
The Crimin...
21/10/2025
NAB New York 2025: Although AES Show Is on Its Own, Audio Will Be a Major Part o...
21/10/2025
NAB New York 2025: Business of Broadcast and Media,' Future of Content'...
21/10/2025
SVG All-Stars: Ethan Folz, Senior Director, Digital Operations and Quality of Ex...
21/10/2025
NBA on NBC/Peacock: Livestream Offers Graphic Overlays, Predictive Gaming, Ancil...
21/10/2025
NBA on NBC/Peacock: At the Front Bench With Producer Frank DiGraci and Director ...
21/10/2025
NBA on NBC/Peacock: NBC Sports, NEP Build Ultra-Flexible Production Plan That Se...
21/10/2025
Indigenous storytelling has been at the heart of the work of the Sundance Instit...
21/10/2025
Top L-R: Mysterious Skin, American Dream Second Row L-R: Little Miss Sunshine, D...
21/10/2025
Last week, Spotify and Columbia Records transformed Pier 4 at the Brooklyn Army ...
21/10/2025
SBS Learn's Dharug Ngurra resource empowers classrooms to meaningfully celeb...
21/10/2025
As global operators simplify and evolve their digital platforms, NPS improvement...
21/10/2025
Critical Design Review completion is a key milestone on the path toward Wideband Global Satellite Communications certification for the network in 2026, opening ...
21/10/2025
New Australian undersea training range to implement and improve warfighting tactics, proficiency and safety; enable joint/allied training that contributes to pr...
21/10/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
21/10/2025
September, the beginning of autumn, brought an expected revival to the TV market, largely due to the new fall TV schedules. The time spent in front of the TV sc...
21/10/2025
Broadcast Booms with 20% Uptick vs. August, Achieving Largest Monthly
Increase ...
21/10/2025
During September, streaming's share of TV viewing in Mexico settled at 24.5%, a marginal shift of -0.5 share points from the previous month.
Disclaimer: YU...
21/10/2025
RENNES, France BBright and GlobalM have conducted a technical trial validating Ultra HD interoperability across the entire contribution chain in the cloud, achi...
21/10/2025
Kokusai Denki Electric America will mark the U.S. debut of a new 4K camera at the 2025 NAB New York, Oct. 22-23. Now available, the Z-HD6500-S1 UHD/HD productio...
21/10/2025
Triveni Digital, a trusted leader in ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 service delivery, data broadcasting, and quality assurance solutions, will showcase its entire NEXTGEN TV ...
21/10/2025
Radio Azzurra FM, longest-running radio station in the province of Novara, northwest Italy, has invested in an DHD SX2 audio routing and mixing console for inte...
21/10/2025
Globecast, the leading provider of broadcast, media and entertainment managed services, has announced the appointment of G Morgan as Executive Vice President of...
Altice has seen a meteoric rise in the past 18 months, transitioning from a private equity firm with a diverse range of smaller stakes to a multinational TV and communications company. It now joins the largest global pay-TV players who control close to 50 per cent of the world's subscription TV revenue, according to a new report by Ampere Analysis.
