Customers seem to be switching to DTT and Internet reception.
Will the first quarter of 2010 be marked by a rising trend of television subscribers abandoning HOT? Figures that have reached "Globes" show that the company will end the first quarter with over 5,000 fewer subscribers. This is a substantial number, considering that in the whole of 2009 the company lost 10,000 subscribers. According to the same sources, the company's projections for April are for a yet higher rate of cancellations. HOT's response was "No comment. We do not comment on this routinely."
Beyond the situation of HOT and its failure to stem the flood of subscribers leaving, the question arises whether the whole multi-channel television market is not starting to shrink. Subscribers have been opting for the new digital receiver, DTT. Up to now, the extent of use of DT has not been clear, and the number of people switching to it has been lower than expected. However, it seems that there has been some movement in use of the service, or else more and more subscribers are switching to watching television via the Internet and entirely abandoning viewing via the television companies.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 24, 2010
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