List of HD channels, My-HD basic channels by genre, HD channels by language, MyGMA: exclusive channels & monthly cost, Satellite & frequencies, Hardware providers, Pay TV competition & FTA competition, My-HD subscribers and revenues Q2-Q4 2013
Pages: 15; Figures: 8
My-HD Media is a privately-owned, high definition (HD) satellite-TV platform which officially launched service at the end of May, 2013. As of mid-February, 2014, the Dubai-based company offered a total of 42 HD channels and five standard definition (SD) channels across 22 countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). My-HD currently has dealers in 15 countries across the region and is looking for dealers in a further 7 countries.
My-HD and was inspired by the German operator – HD PLUS, a subsidiary of satellite operator SES, which broadcasts popular, free-to-air TV channels in high definition to the German-language market for a small annual fee. HD PLUS reported 1.41 million paying customers as of December 31, 2013, growth of 49% from 944,993 the previous year, and technical reach across 2.7 million households. As of January, 2014, the cost of a 12-month subscription for HD PLUS, or “technical fee”, rose Eur10 to Eur60, while the cost of a smart card also increased Eur10 to Eur65.
My-HD categorizes the segment as “low-pay” TV, which it defines as halfway between premium pay-TV and free-to-air (FTA) content. Cliff Nelson, the chief executive of My-HD believes the FTA model is not working in the Middle East and says FTA will become scarcer among the premium channels.
“It’s not a secret in the Middle East that most channels are losing money and have been losing money for the last 16 years. There are very few exceptions,” said Nelson. “Either the channels should start to fall off and close down or start to migrate to a low-pay TV model. What we are providing is the opportunity to [receive] low pay revenue in addition to advertising sales.”
The My-HD bouquet includes channels from major TV networks across the MENA region, including nine MBC HD channels (two of which are exclusive to My-HD), Discovery Science HD and Animal Planet HD, five exclusive Rotana HD channels, four exclusive HD channels from Al Nahar, and six new and exclusive HD channels from Olympusat.
The company has also partnered with the Philippines terrestrial broadcaster, GMA Network (GMA), for rights to show GMA content to the approximate 2.75 million Filipino migrant workers living in the Middle East – predominantly in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar.
Dataxis estimates that My-HD had a cumulative subscriber base of more 219,600 by end-2013 and total annual revenues of approximately USD 9.64 million. Saudi Arabia and the UAE together accounted for 81% of total My-HD subs at the end of 2013 – followed by Qatar (with 12% of total subs), Kuwait (4%) and Iraq (2%).