IPTV growth boosts Russian pay-TV

IPTV subscribers in Russia broke the one million barrier last year, according to a survey by ComNews Research. In the course of the year the number of IPTV subscribers grew by about 70%, according to the survey, which assessed the pay-TV market in 16 cities with populations  exceeding one million.

The overall Russian pay-TV subscriber base grew by about 21% to 24.1 million in the course of the year, according to ComNews. Growth was driven by low-cost satellite TV provider Tricolor TV, which ended the year with 6.2 million, up from 4.3 million). Cable subscribers grew by only 13%.

The success of IPTV came despite the average channel delivered over IPTV services costing approximately twice as much as cable, according to the research.