Telia top line reinforced by TV and media – Digital TV Europe
Telia’s television and media operations, together with service revenues in Sweden and the Baltic states, contributed to strengthening the company’s earnings during the fourth quarter, with total service revenues increasing by 3%.
CEO Alison Kirkby said that TV and media had continued to grow during the quarter, with access to C More pay-TV content now 14% higher than a year ago.
Service revenues increased by 11% in both advertising-financed and pay-TV companies, with advertising revenues being described as strong on both linear and digital platforms in Sweden and Finland.
Digital advertising in Sweden increased by 28%, powered by the streaming service TV4 Play.
While service revenues grew, investments in premium sports rights meant that the growth in C More’s pay-TV customer base failed to translate into EBITDA growth for the TV and media operations in general.
However, TV ARPU grew by 8% during the quarter.
The television and media business, which includes the former Bonnier Broadcasting companies for free and pay-TV, had 865,000 subscribers at the end of the fourth quarter, up from 789,000 a year earlier.
The total TV subscription for the group, including each country’s fixed TV number, amounted to 3.377 million, up from 3.235 million.
Full-year revenues from TV and media units were SEK 8.647 billion (EUR 820 million), an increase from SEK 7.429 billion.
TV and media’s EBITDA was SEK 878 million, up from SEK 758 million.