As a result of the global economy over the last few years payTV subscriber numbers had been negatively impacted. However, things seem to be improving as the total number of payTV subscribers by year-end 2010 were greater than year-end 2009 by a little over 6%, says In-Stat.

"Nearly every region showed gains or held their own in 2010. However, cable providers were impacted, to at least some degree, by a migration to satellite and/or IPTV in virtually every region," according to Stephanie Pickering, Industry Analyst. "Only Western Europe showed any gains in the total number of cable TV subscribers."

Recent research data shows:

• China has the largest number of payTV subscribers with over 160 million. Shanghai Media SiTV is the largest operator; however, no other payTV operator has more than 5 million subscribers.
• The largest regional market of IPTV subscribers is Western Europe with nearly 17.5 million subscribers, of which France has nearly 11 million, led by CanalSat-TPS (Vivendi) and Free (iliad).
• Net Servicos de Comunicacao of Brazil is the largest cable service provider in the Caribbean and Latin America region.
• AT&T went from the sixth largest IPTV operator in the world at the end of 2009 to the fourth largest in 2010.

New In-Stat research, 4Q10 PayTV Subscribers Database provides actual subscriber numbers for the top 60 cable (analog and digital), top 75 satellite (DTH), and top 70 IPTV (or telco TV) payTV operators worldwide. The data is segmented by:

• 2010-2014 worldwide subscriber forecasts by household, region, and platform
• 2008-Q410 worldwide actual subscribers by household, region, operator and platform
• Top 20 payTV operators by platform, region and country